Babcock Devonport employees win APM Challenge Competition 17/18

A team of Babcock employees from Devonport has been crowned winners of the Association for Project Management (APM) Project Management Challenge 2017/18.

Tom Roden, Adam John, Alistair Ham, Harriet Prior, Ryan Hart and Luke Friend were announced the South Wales and West of England (SWWE) winners at the final in Bristol and saw off tough competition from companies across the region. Each year, the APM SWWE branch holds a competition for teams of future project managers. The competition requires teams to deliver a complete life cycle of a project – from conception to close-out - to a deserving charitable organisation or community based project in the region.

After contacting more than 50 charities the team chose to project manage the improvement to the maintenance processes of Dartmoor Zoo, which involved looking at the zoo’s processes, resource and communication. The team had to report on each stage of the project in the form of a project plan and final report. Once these had been judged, the team were shortlisted to present their findings at the final.

Speaking on behalf of the winning Babcock team, Tom Roden, Business Improvement Work Stream Lead, said: “It was a challenging project but overall it was an extremely rewarding experience, it allowed the team to turn theory into practice within a live project, providing crucial project management lessons for the team and helping a fantastic charity to develop further”.

Benjamin Mee, Dartmoor Zoological Park CEO, said: “We have been very impressed with the Babcock team and the approach they have taken to the project. They have listened to and challenged our requirements, through workshops, data collection, good communications and even volunteering with the maintenance team. They have come up with a solution which will help transform our maintenance team systems, from a fire fighting mode to a planned but also responsive way of working.”

Simon Reid, Project sponsor and Head Output - Submarines for Babcock, added: “Winning the APM Challenge Competition is the culmination of an exciting journey of personal development, discovery and delivery of real value to Dartmoor Zoo, our charity partner. The team excelled themselves and were justifiably proud of this huge success.”

Bruce Phillips, the overall APM leader of this year’s exciting competition said: “The Project Board was significantly impressed by all of the teams competing in terms of attitude, commitment and the outputs delivered on behalf of their chosen community based projects. In particular, the Babcock team was a stand-out winner, demonstrating a consistent, measured and quality based approach throughout the whole competition. It is easy to understand why their customer, Dartmoor Zoo, is justifiably proud of their achievements delivering maintenance focused efficiencies.”

The team are now looking forward to successfully delivering the remaining outputs to Dartmoor Zoo and using the experience to help develop their careers in the future.