Heathrow awarded APM corporate accreditation

Heathrow have gained APM Corporate Accreditation for their Development Programmes Directorate, which is responsible for the programme and project management of all construction work carried out at the UKs busiest airport.

Projects range from the construction and repair of airport runways and the development of new baggage systems to the creation of airport energy supply infrastructure and the design of terminal buildings.

The two key programmes underway for the Development Programmes Directorate include the Terminal 2 programme, which is divided into several projects: the construction of the new terminal building T2A, the satellite T2B and the associated car park, cooling station and energy centre. The Western Baggage Programme, which involves the creation of new integrated baggage system for the western section of Heathrow, includes a state of the art baggage processing facility connecting Terminal 5 and Terminal 3.

Those employees who are part of the Development Programmes Directorate demonstrate achievement through APMs Introductory Certificate and APMP qualifications, as well as going through Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) training. It is these 300 people that Heathrow programme director Julian Foster hopes will all eventually achieve APMP or higher. Speaking to APM earlier this year Julian said: The percentage of our staff that I see having APMP should be 100% of our project managers.

Julian added that APMP is important on a number of other levels including the fact that it is best of class, but more importantly is the fact that it is not just about a process, its about the tools and techniques. So we get that flexibility as well.

Those companies who become corporately accredited are able to attract and retain the best project management talent in the country. The assessment of an organisations professional development scheme gives stakeholders confidence of its dedication to developing project professionals.

Heathrow Airport is the third busiest airport in the world with over 69 million passengers arriving and departing last year. It is one of the UKs most significant construction industry clients, continually investing in the construction and refurbishment of its infrastructure along with the associated process and operational change programmes which go along with their delivery.