Winners' reactions from the APM Project Management Awards 2023
This year's APM Project Management Awards lived up to its billing as a highlight in the project profession's calendar, as hundreds of people attended the prestigious event at the Park Plaza Hotel in London on Monday, 20 November.
The Awards, supported by headline sponsor RPC UK Ltd, celebrated excellence, innovation, and the ability of projects to change the world for the better.
Projects and organisations from all over the world were represented, highlighting the far-reaching impact of the project profession, as well as its breath and diversity. During his opening speech, APM Chief Executive Professor Adam Boddison OBE commented: "One only has to look around this room to see what an incredible, dynamic, inclusive and diverse profession this is."
A total of 18 awards were presented across a range of categories. Judges praised the excellent standard of entries and gave special mentions to many of the named finalists. The eventual winners on the night were:
Company of the Year - KBR. Simon Davies, Head of Project Management at KBR, said: "KBR is committed to innovating and improving the project management profession.
"We are very grateful for being recognised this evening for the efforts we are making."
Small to Medium Enterprise of the Year - CPC Project Services. Steve Mole, Managing Partner at CPC Project Services, said: "We’ve been around for 33 years. To achieve his is huge for everyone in the business. We came here with high expectations which can sometimes lead to disappointment but when our name came out, we were thrilled."
Not-for-profit Organisation of the Year - National Trust. Mike Hudson, Head of Strategic Planning and Project/Programme Management, said: "This is testament to all the work that has gone into both the profession and also into project delivery over the past couple of years. It’s about programme and project managers and all our sponsors internally, and all the related professions that deliver many of our projects – this is an award to all those involved."
Public Sector Organisation of the Year - Essex County Council. Amanda Harrison, Head of Delivery Assurance at Essex County Council, said: "We entered two years ago in the not-for-profit category and won. We had such strong competition and we read what the other entrants had done. I thought there was no way we were going to win it twice, so we are absolutely delighted.
"I'm really proud of the team. They're a really great bunch of people."
Innovation in Project Management - Low Crosby Flood Risk Management Scheme, Environment Agency. Keith Roddy, Project Executive at the Environment Agency, said: "We are delighted to have been recognised for this award and testament to all the hard work from those involved in making it happen.
"This is a brilliant project creating a natural solution to give space for the river, while reducing flood risk to communities, protect and enhance the environment, and to implement a sustainable low carbon solution. The project was only possible with the support of the landowner, whose agriculture business had benefitted from the embankment, Natural England, and affected residents and businesses."
PMO of the Year - Project Delivery & Improvement, UK Research and Innovation. Mark Bradley, Head of Project Profession at UK Research and Innovation, said: "I’m amazed! It’s a fantastic culmination of a five year journey."
Nicola Canale, Head of PDI at UK Research and Innovation, added: "I’m so proud of the team. Projects are all about people. Without all their hard work over the past five years we wouldn’t be here tonight."
APM Sustainability Award - Jacobs Approach to Embedding Sustainability into Every Project, Jacobs. Will Masters, Sustainability Lead at Jacobs, said: "I'm absolutely thrilled for me this is a shared award. This is not just about thousands of people delivering projects in Jacobs. When you look at the list of finalists, not only have we won the award but three of the projects listed as finalists are our projects.
"For me, sustainability is something we need to be thinking about in the same terms as safety and quality, so it’s fantastic that APM is recognising sustainability as it is."
Safe Project Management Award - Cavendish Nuclear Defence Programme, Cavendish Nuclear. Caroline Jones, Senior HSE Manager at Cavendish Nuclear, said: "We're delighted to have won this award and couldn’t have done it without the strong team delivering the project. It is a very challenging project but it is a fantastic team working on it."
Young Project Professional of the Year - Kathryn Williamson Hall, Leonardo UK. Kathryn said: "This is fantastic and I'm very happy to have won. It was a great opportunity to work on this project and to be recognised for my work and my team’s work as part of the EuroFighter Typhoon Radar Production Programme, and the project we delivered for Qatar. It's great to be here this evening and to see all the great work going on in the project management community."
Project Professional of the Year - Jimmy Nguyen, Turner & Townsend. Jimmy said: "I'm very surprised and humbled by such a prestigious award I would like to thank APM, Turner & Townsend and the Environment Agency, with whom I was working on this project.
"The highlight of this project for me was delivering the benefits to the community of Bromford."
Chartered Project Professional of the Year - Ed Mason-Smith, CBO. Ed said: "It's great to be recognised by APM and to have won this award. It highlights the importance of chartered status within the project profession and the credibility it gives in meeting the high professional and ethical standards expected.
"At CBO, I have built a growing team of knowledgeable, qualified, chartered and industry respected project professionals whilst delivering a range of high-profile projects. As Chair of the APM Channel Islands Branch, I lead a community of project professionals who come together to share best practice and improve the understanding of the profession. One of my proudest areas of work is leading the development of the Guernsey project management apprenticeship and its potential impact on the profession locally."
Programme of the Year - Autoridad para la Reconstrucción con Cambios (ARCC). Rodney Berkeley, Director for Sustainability and Infrastructure at the Department for Industry and Trade, said: "It’s an amazing achievement and thoroughly deserved. The way the UK consortium has come together to work with the Ministry of Reconstruction in Peru has been groundbreaking. This is a wonderful thing for the Peruvian population.
"The success of this programme is to do with the strength of the partnership between the UK and Peruvian governments."
Technology Project of the Year - Commonwealth Games Telecommunications Infrastructure Project, Fujitsu. Kevin Hill, Sales Lead for the project, said: "I'm so grateful it's an amazing achievement. We came in late and only had 137 days to go, an unmovable deadline and a fixed budget. Without delivering on time, the Games wouldn’t have happened. It was an unbelievable effort by the team to get it done in the time we had."
Engineering, Construction and Infrastructure Project of the Year - Dorset Visual Impact Provision Project, National Grid. Paul Hamnett, Senior Project Manager, said: "I'm absolutely thrilled to have received the award, it was a tremendous collaborative effort by all of the partners – National Grid, Morgan Sindall, Baker Hicks, MJ Church, Oxford Archaeology and the Stakeholder Advisory Group. All were instrumental in delivering the project to transform the Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty skyline. Thank you all for your hard work and thanks to APM for acknowledging all of our achievements."
Transformation Project of the Year - West Airspace Deployment, NATS Ltd. Mark Aspin, Project Manager at NATS, said: "It's unbelievable. I'm overwhelmed. It's a testament to the team and their hard work the way the team has come together to overcome all those challenges is the reason we’re here."
Judges Choice Award - Shell Polymers Monaca Project, Shell. Lucy Ferguson, Global Discipline Head for Mechanical Engineering at Shell, said: "I’m absolutely delighted. It’s a great accolade for he whole team, which is Pennsylvania-based but global in creating a world class petrochemical plant.
"We’ve repurposed a previous industrial site in creating this world class project and have done so in collaboration with the environment and community."
Social Project of the Year and Overall Project of the Year - Future Parks Accelerator, National Trust
Victoria Bradford Keegan, Delivery Director at National Trust, said: "We're so delighted to have won both of these awards.
"This project is really important to creating thriving and healthy towns and cities. It really demonstrates the importance of working in partnership and the power of collaboration."
Congratulations to all our winners.
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