Project Description

MSP services to BAA for managing 5-year programme of capital works at Heathrow Airport, UK.

Role & Responsibilities

Lead Planner on behalf of BAA for a number of projects within their "Portfolio of Projects" sub-programme.

Role included reviewing & approving contractor baselines, progress updates and EWN/CEs in line with standard NEC practice. Also maintaining client schedules of each project on a separate P6 database, used for controlling and reporting actual/forecast expenditure, earned value, Stagegate processes, etc.

Some projects have required significant co-ordination with other capital projects, and key stakeholders such as air traffic control, engineering, air liners and CAA. Obviously all projects have to executed in such a way so as to not impact adversely on normal operation or passenger experience at a very busy airport, hence lots of short-shift nightworks, limited area possessions, stakeholder management, fallback planning, etc.

Lessons Learned

In highly-regulated, safety-critical environments such as Heathrow, successful execution of a project often comes down to how well the bureaucracy and client resources are managed to allow the work to go ahead in a timely fashion. Stakeholder management is absolutely key.