Programme leadership of pre-Olympic West End traffic plans

The challenge

Increased competition for West End retailers from out of town shopping centres and eCommerce, as well as a desire to improve the central London environment prior to the Olympics in 2012, has led to the initiation of a steering group to improve the pedestrian experience in Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bond Street.

The steering group consists of members from Westminster City Council (WCC), the New West End Company (an organisation which represents the interests of West End retailers) and Transport for London (TfL).

The development of a surface transport solution is at the heart of the Action Plan. A traffic working group has been charged with the task of making short (under 2 years) and medium term (3-5 year) proposals.

A team had been working on the programme since June 06 but little progress had been made. The root cause of the blockage was lack of an experienced programme manager and real focus. The client team was used to delivering high volumes of traffic schemes in an operational environment, but did not have the tools and experience to deal with challenges presented by a high profile programme with inflexible deadlines and a complex stakeholder situation.

The issues faced by the client included lack of clarity on the need for change, the workstream objectives, overall approach, internal and external governance as well as a lack of internal stakeholder engagement. These issues needed to be resolved by Moorhouse Consulting before the programme could move forward.

Our approach

We provided an experienced specialist programme manager with a retail background to support the client team. The programme manager:

• Scoped and mobilised the large development and delivery programme
• Clarified the governance process and created programme initiation documentation

How did this deliver value to the client?

The following benefits were quickly realised;

• Clarity around the need for change and the aims of the action plan
• The engagement of stakeholders
• Capability transfer of key programme management skills
• Smooth transfer of quick wins to new client staff member and the controlled bringing together of 23 proposed schemes
• Clarified internal lines of governance for the programme
• The ongoing detailed definition of the scope of the programme

Click here to download PDF 

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: Tim Phillips timphillips@moorhouseconsulting.com +44 (0) 20 3004 4482