Improving the project management of Londons strategic Busways schemes

The challenge

The Major Projects Busways team from Transport for London (TfL) are tasked with developing and managing London’s large scale strategic Busways programmes. These schemes aim to achieve large scale economic and social benefits through significant improvements in transport infrastructure.

The Busways team are responsible for initiating component projects through the feasibility stage to a point where they are ready for implementation. They then hand the project over to TfL’s Surface Transport mode, who are responsible for implementation.

Recent handover experiences convinced many that there was room for improvement, especially in relation to early project definition and governance clarity.

Additionally, Surface Transport’s adoption of the SPEARMINT methodology to manage their programmes and projects created a need for Major Projects to hand-over SPEARMINTcompliant project documentation.

Stakeholder pressure to improve this aspect was further exacerbated as a result of a slipping handover schedule.

With a major transport project, Greenwich Waterfront Transit (GWT), approaching the handover point, the Busways team urgently wanted an assessment of their capability in relation to ‘best practice’ project and programme management (PPM). This understanding would, in turn, support them in successfully handing over the project to Surface Transport.

Whilst the Busways team had deep transport planning knowledge, they believed they required external PPM expertise to achieve their aims.

Our approach

We reviewed the GWT Programme and identified a clear plan to resolve the issues. This involved:

• interviews with the team and key stakeholders
• reviewing all project documentation for SPEARMINT compliance
• a benchmarking exercise to assess how comparable organisations manage intrabusiness unit project handovers

We then facilitated proactive resolution of the identified issues.

How did this deliver value to the client?

The following benefits have been recognised:

• Clarity achieved in relation to current practices and PPM ‘best practice’ which allowed realistic delivery improvements to be targeted
• As a result of this understanding and capability development, the GWT project became SPEARMINT compliant, enabling a successful handover
• Facilitated agreement on long-standing cross business unit issues that will support the progress of future project handover transitions
• A step change in the Busways teams’ understanding of project management topics

If you would like to talk to us call on the number below. Alternatively, click on the consultants email address, provide us with your details and we will call you back. We look forward to speaking to you. Contact: Email: Tel: Dom Moorhouse dommoorhouse@moorhouseconsulting.com +44 (0) 1225 446 313