Early Careers Summit at Transport for London Headquarters highlights benefits of cross industry collaboration

As part of its cross‑industry summit series, early careers professionals from Transport for London (TfL) and construction and property consultancy Gardiner & Theobald (G & T) gathered at TfL’s head office in Stratford, London for the Early Careers: Project Management Challenge, delivered in partnership with the Association for Project Management (APM).

The aim of the event (held on 13 October) - chaired by Oakley Slack, Assistant Project Manager at G&T and Aweni Iyalla, Projects and Programmes Graduate at TfL - was to bring together people from different companies, disciplines and experience levels and get them working as one team, just as they would on a real project.

The event included introductions from Mark Cowieson, G&T Partner in Infrastructure, and Amanda Warner, TfL Head of Project Management and Resourcing talking about the working partnership between both organisations and the opportunities available to emerging professionals. Sophie Lawrence, APM Partnership Development Manager also gave attendees an insight into APM’s Corporate Partnership programnme and the benefits of APM membership.

Attendees working in teams participated in a Project Management Simulation Challenge. Presentations to a judging panel followed, which included Manikanth Reddy, Academic Portfolio Manager – London Metropolitan College and APM London Network Chair, Dan Wynne, G&T Partner in Infrastructure, Liam Parkin, TfL Professional Manager – Value and Continuous Improvement and Daniel Rahamim, TfL Innovation Manager.

Amanda Warner, Head of Project Management and Resourcing at TfL said: “It was great to see the energy in the room and to watch graduates and apprentices from both Transport for London and Gardiner & Theobald take in the project challenge, as part of our early careers series.

Beyond the technical challenge, the session provided a valuable opportunity for early-career professionals to collaborate across organisations, exchange ideas and build meaningful connections while experiencing the realities of project delivery. A huge thank you to everyone involved who helped bring this initiative to life.”