Construction is about creating transformational outcomes for the people and nature in our society, with each project making its own lasting impact on the communities around it. From experience working in central Government, I have a strong understanding of the huge aspirations it has for the UK’s construction industry. AWE’s Future Materials Campus (FMC) has the potential to deliver on these and enable nuclear science for generations to come.

The FMC programme is part of a multi-year, multi-billion-pound portfolio of infrastructure investment being undertaken across the AWE estate. A critical element of the National Endeavour for the delivery of the UK’s nuclear deterrence programme, AWE will deliver the Replacement Warhead announced by Parliament in 2020 and continue to maintain the current in-service warhead for as long as it is required. FMC will support our overall commitment to protecting the UK through nuclear science and technology, and its long-term impact represents an enormous opportunity to develop the UK’s domestic skills and capabilities across defence, construction, technology and more.

Delivering the facilities that will make up the FMC is an incredibly complex project with a huge range of interdependencies and competing demands, spanning outcomes (facility requirements), timing (development synchronisation), development (multiple delivery partners) and budget pressures (value for taxpayer money).

Driving change in construction and enabling nuclear science for future generations

FMC’s development is driven by some very specific, and in many cases, unique design and delivery requirements. Above all, FMC will be built in a highly regulated, nuclear licensed site, with all the implications for safety and national security which that brings. Further, we must meet strict environmental controls as well as considering our long-term sustainability strategy, both in terms of materials and construction impact.

But there’s more to think about than pure design considerations; I’ve found clients in projects of this nature are often two-dimensional in their approach in what is a multi-dimensional world. Current client practices are not well matched to today’s complex environment – especially the pace of change, challenges and ambiguity.

Typically, the client defines a project from top to bottom, making choices about the mission, priorities, leadership and so on. But should the client really be expected to have all the answers?

I think we should embrace the idea of the “incomplete client,” where the client recognises it does not have all the answers. This humility creates opportunities for curiosity through servant leadership. It also understands it is part of an ecosystem – not alone at the top of a hierarchy. The incomplete client focuses on the benefits to the end user and the communities it serves, and I believe it can make a real difference to major projects.

Therefore, productive and transparent collaboration with our partners is key to the successful delivery of the programme, requiring a significant, long-term engagement of our supply chain and wider industrial base. This requires a change in how we approach nuclear enterprise projects and, in the future, will have a lasting impact on how large-scale infrastructure projects are designed and run (including civil nuclear projects). This change will be driven by challenging the status quo of delivery and commercial strategies to encourage new thinking about how we can drive improvements in the way projects and programmes are delivered.

There are several ways we’re doing this with FMC.

At the core of FMC’s delivery is the implementation of a programmatic approach that enables us to consider every single aspect – construction, safety, cost, logistics, labour and so on – as a single but interconnected programme of works, rather than a collection of individual projects. This approach helps us reduce logistical, commercial and deliverability risks. Significantly, it is also a marked change in approach for AWE and other defence infrastructure programmes.

Further, we are developing an integrated delivery model that determines how, as the contracting organisation, AWE will structure the delivery of the programme through the supply chain. It includes consideration for needs such as accelerated delivery, flexibility and innovation, in a constrained and highly regulated environment, and management arrangements for integration and programme-wide decision-making.

FMC’s commercial strategy is at the heart of creating sustainable and meaningful partnerships with our supply chain partners and will be a catalyst for the transformation of commercial contracting practice.

But this is not just a fanciful dream; we’re already beginning to implement our strategy. Through a new, transparent, and collaborative approach to commercial engagement, we’ve carried out substantial market testing and consultation exercises with our supply chain to ensure the strategy is fit for purpose, and to ensure an equitable share of the rewards that the FMC delivers. Along with committed government funding, this has allowed us to accelerate the pace of commercial implementation, probably further and faster than many other major programmes of this kind.

Conclusion

We aspire to see our work on FMC kickstart change in the industry to move away from transactional client-supplier models, and instead towards those that prioritise collaboration to support resource and construction requirements to reach individual and collective goals. Our approach includes creative but careful solutions for our supply chain model and improving our sustainable contracting practices.

I am passionate about AWE’s purpose of delivering a secure future for all and recognise FMC’s contribution. But moreover, I’m deeply passionate about the transformative power of our programme to deliver many positive impacts – ensuring strong environmental outcomes, creating jobs, broadening the UK’s industrial skills base, adding economic benefit locally and nationally, and driving innovation in science, technology and other fields to secure the UK’s position as a world-leader in new nuclear technologies.

Emma-Jane Houghton is a commercial director with AWE. An infrastructure and built environment specialist, she is passionate about creating a more modern, productive and sustainable construction industry. Her background and professional accomplishments span major project and programme delivery with clients in both the private and public sector. She has held senior positions in the Cabinet Office as well as “big four” consultancy and a range of advisory leadership roles. She is also a chartered surveyor, fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers and a Lieutenant Colonel in the Engineering and Logistics Staff Corps.