The chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced a raft of plans to drive economic growth. As part of a speech at Siemens Healthineers in Oxfordshire, the Chancellor announced a range of projects including the redevelopment of Old Trafford in Manchester, a rail link between Oxford and Cambridge and the building of the Lower Thames Crossing.
The Association of Project Management (APM) has responded positively to these announcements, with Andrew Baldwin, APM’s head of policy and public affairs said, “It’s really encouraging to see the Chancellor backing the delivery of new projects in the UK and a focus on infrastructure development, as well as the planned reforms to make projects easier.”
However, he added, “we need to ensure that the Government is taking a realistic approach to delivering its plans and having the appropriate skills provision in place for the proposed increase in infrastructure projects.”
Project success, Baldwin added, is dependent on skilled professionals: “We urge Government to invest in the professionalisation of project management, to ensure we can deliver the projects which received the Chancellor’s support today.”
See the Chancellor’s speech in full here
