In this episode of the Major Projects Association podcast, Executive Director Andy Murray is joined by Alex Grant, Director of Programme Risk and Assurance at Grant Thornton, for a fireside chat – quite literally – at the Institution of Civil Engineers in London.

Ahead of our upcoming seminar, Unlocking the true value of assurance, Andy and Alex explore how assurance can deliver greater value across major projects. Moving beyond assurance as a checking exercise, they consider how it can build confidence, improve decision-making, and help projects identify and address risk earlier.

Drawing on Alex’s experience across major programmes and different lines of assurance, the conversation explores where assurance can have the greatest impact, particularly during the early stages of a project. They discuss integrated assurance and approval planning, independent challenge, trust and accountability, and how effective assurance can uncover gaps, reduce duplication and bring different parts of a programme around a shared understanding of risk and priorities.

Ultimately, they consider how assurance can break down organisational barriers and help create the conditions for better project outcomes.

And, as ever, the conversation ends with a track chosen by our guest.

Alex Grant

Director of Programme Risk and Assurance, Grant Thornton UK

Alex is a Chartered Accountant (ACCA) and risk management specialist (SIRM) with over 14 years' experience in integrated audit, risk and assurance across major infrastructure programmes, with a specialism in cost and commercial assurance. He recently performed the role of Review Team Leader for the independent assurance undertaken on the Dublin MetroLink Programme, informing the recent Cabinet Approval for Ireland's largest transport infrastructure programme, and has previously led independent assurance programmes for the Houses of Parliament Restoration and Renewal Delivery Authority. His work spans rail, transport, water and regulated infrastructure, reporting to Senior Responsible Owners, Programme Boards and Audit Committees.

Alex's approach centres on integrated assurance, bringing together the often fragmented lines of audit, risk and programme oversight into a single, coordinated view that senior stakeholders can act on with confidence. Alongside his major programme work, he has led internal audit engagements for private sector clients spanning construction, manufacturing and project delivery, giving him a grounded, cross-sector view of what good assurance looks like in practice.

Insight paper

Alex will also be exploring these themes further in an upcoming insight paper from Grant Thornton, due to be published in the coming weeks – look out for more soon.

Connect with Alex on LinkedIn.

In this episode of the Major Projects Association podcast, Executive Director Andy Murray is joined by Alice Poole, Associate Partner at PA Consulting, and Janet Greenwood, Global Lead for Sustainable Infrastructure at KPMG, to explore how sustainability can be meaningfully embedded across the lifecycle of major projects. Building on insights from our recent event on collaborating with supply chains, this conversation acts as a bridge to our upcoming April seminar, focusing on turning ambition into action and embedding sustainability into everyday project delivery.

Drawing on global experience, UK case studies, and practical examples from across infrastructure and major programmes, Alice and Janet unpack what it really takes to move from high-level commitments to tangible outcomes. They discuss the role of individual and organisational agency, the importance of procurement and supply chain alignment, and how the MPA Sustainability Playbook helps translate complex challenges into actionable steps across define, design, procure, deliver, and operate stages. The conversation also tackles the realities of trade-offs, risk, and innovation, highlighting how sustainability can drive better project outcomes, not just compliance.

To round things off, the episode closes with a track chosen by our guests - a moment of reflection to end the conversation.

Links Register for our upcoming seminar: Sustainable Futures: Embedding action in major projects Major Projects Sustainability Playbook Not the End of the World by Hannah Ritchie The Embodied Biodiversity Impacts of Construction Materials research report, November 2023

Janet Greenwood Global Lead for Sustainable Infrastructure, KPMG

Janet Greenwood is KPMG’s Global Lead for Sustainable Infrastructure. In 2024 Janet won The Times Consultant of the Year and Management Consultancies Association Experienced Leader Award.

She is Chair of the Major Projects Associations Sustainability Ambassadors, a member of the Institution of Civil Engineer’s Inspiring Engineering Excellence Board and founder member of the Cambridge University Centre for Smart Infrastructure in Construction’s Carbon Code.

A Visiting Fellow at Southampton University Business School, a Fellow of the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation and a Policy Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, she has extensive experience in delivering sustainability, social value and carbon priorities in major construction projects and supporting built environment clients to deliver their most challenging programmes. She has over 30 years’ experience in the built environment, having worked across sectors such as water, wastewater, flood defence and transport.

Connect with Janet on LinkedIn.

Alice Poole Associate Partner, PA Consulting

Alice Poole is an Associate Partner at PA Consulting. She leads PA’s sustainability approach for end-to-end Delivery and specialises in large complex programmes involving system-wide change, extensive political and stakeholder engagement, social impact, and high levels of risk. She has over two decades of experience promoting sustainability (sustainable and green growth, social change, strong institutions, resilience, climate change adaptation, mitigation), just transitions, and effective delivery in the UK and globally. She is especially focused on the adaptation/ mitigation interface – how to ensure cities and places incorporate broader resilience and strong social impact measures. Her experience includes work on fragile states and political economy (including urban water) at the World Bank, and as a Transatlantic Fellow at The German Marshall Fund.

Connect with Alice on LinkedIn.

In this episode of the Major Projects Association podcast, Executive Director Andy Murray is joined by Mark Hansford, editorial consultant and former Editor of New Civil Engineer, for a special conversation ahead of our upcoming seminar on productivity. The discussion sets the scene for that event by exploring one of the sector’s most persistent challenges and a new initiative designed to address it.

At the heart of the conversation is PAS 4010, a forthcoming specification for whole life productivity in infrastructure projects and programmes, which will shortly be released for public consultation. Co-sponsored by the Department for Transport and the Institution of Civil Engineers, the new PAS seeks to create a shared framework for improving not just how efficiently projects are delivered, but how effectively the right choices are made from the outset. Drawing inspiration from the impact of PAS 2080 on carbon management, the discussion examines whether a common language and consistent approach to productivity could finally shift the dial on performance.

Andy and Mark delve into what productivity really means in practice, from data and measurement to leadership, governance and challenge, and why this moment, with a 10-year infrastructure strategy ahead and mounting delivery pressures, demands a more coordinated response. They also reflect on the risks of adding bureaucracy in the name of improvement, and how the standard aims to empower the entire value chain, from asset owners to suppliers, to drive meaningful change.

And, in keeping with podcast tradition, the episode closes with a track chosen by our guest to reflect the themes explored.

Links

Join our virtual seminar: Driving productivity: Smarter, faster and more efficient major projects

What is PAS 4010: 2026 - maximising productivity in infrastructure design and delivery?

PAS 2080

Guidance Document For PAS 2080

Five Client Carbon Commitments: Setting A Path To Net Zero Construction

Sustainability Playbook

Mark Hansford, Researcher, technical writer, editorial consultant; compere and event facilitator for the infrastructure sector

Mark has spent the last 25 years working as knowledge content specialist across the infrastructure sector. Having joined New Civil Engineer magazine in 2000, he edited the title for six years until 2020, relaunching it as a quality monthly with news delivered digitally daily, before leaving to become director of engineering knowledge at the Institution of Civil Engineers. Mark now works with a range of organisations committed to driving change across the UK infrastructure sector and is a member of the Green Construction Board and the strategic leadership group of the Get It Right Initiative (GIRI). He is a qualified civil engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, having started his career with AtkinsRealis.