24 July 2015

A talented young Costain team has triumphed in the prestigious project management competition, the ECITB Project Management (ACTIVE) Cup.

Organised by the ECITB (Engineering Construction Industry Training Board) and run in partnership with Cranfield University School of Management, the three-day competition aims to demonstrate the ACTIVE principles: Achieving Competitiveness Through Innovation and Value Enhancement.

This year eleven teams took part, representing companies such as KBR, Foster Wheeler/AMEC and Cavendish Nuclear. However it was Costain’s Austin Holmes, HR Business Partner; Zak Loftus, Process Engineer; Lisa Prue, Senior Buyer; Jaimie Bowett, Lead Information Manager and Andreas Achilleos, Senior Instrument Engineer who finished first and took the cup.

They brought in the challenging ‘build’ of a $2.9 million hi-tech environmental monitoring centre on a river in South America on time, and delivered a profit of $440,000 - $27,000 above their forecast. In doing so they beat the only other team to achieve a profit – KBR – by more than $300,000, and demonstrated a very firm grasp of project management processes such as the relationship between costs, schedules and cash flow.

“We had a very talented, organised and committed team who performed outstandingly over three very intense, highly pressurised days,” said Austin. “There were no project management or control specialists in the team but we kept calm and managed to deal with all the curveballs the organizers threw at us.”

Added Andreas: “There was great team spirit. We delivered the project successfully with collaboration, minimum resources and adoption of the ACTIVE Principles.” For Zak, the competition was “a great opportunity to experience the delivery of a project across its whole lifecycle with tremendous learning opportunities along the way.”

Lisa found the event “enjoyable, demanding and very rewarding. It also highlighted the importance of working together as ‘one team’ in a project environment.”

Austin agreed: “We learnt a lot about working under pressure, reacting to change and the importance of collaboration. It certainly helped me understand further project management processes and see just how vital project management skills are to the success of a project. It’s six years since Costain last entered the competition but I definitely think we should enter next year – not only is it a good development tool but it’s a great way to promote the business.”

Summed up Jaimie: “An exhausting, but exhilarating and valuable experience. Would I do it again? Absolutely!”

Pictured: The winning team with Costain CEO, Andrew Wyllie (sixth from left) and Chairman, David Allvey (second from right).

 

Ends

 

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