Double award win for Babcock at two UK sites
Babcock International has celebrated after receiving two coveted business awards from the Association of Project Management (APM) in ceremonies held in Edinburgh and Bristol. Recognising the teams’ efforts, the accolades represent the South Wales and West of England and the Scotland categories and were won by Babcock’s Devonport and Rosyth teams respectively, with Rosyth crowned winners for the second time in three years.
Rosyth apprentices (above) Connor McDonald, Rochelle Rodger, Ross Beattie and Claire Laurenson and former graduate Daniel Rule, celebrated at the Scottish finals, while Devonport employees (below) Tom Roden, Adam John, Alistair Ham, Harriet Prior, Ryan Hart and Luke Friend triumphed in Bristol.
Each year, the APM branches hold a Project Management (PM) competition for teams of students, graduates or young project managers. The competition provides invited teams with a useful opportunity to work through the complete life cycle of a project – from conception to close-out.
To impress the judges, they had to showcase their innovation whilst raising money for charity or a community-based project. The Rosyth team project managed the creation of a boat for the playground of Starley Hall, a Burntisland-based school that provides residential care and education for young people with emotional and/or social difficulties. They also raised £1,100 from a bake sale and a quiz based on the history of the Babcock Rosyth site. The money will be used to further improve the school’s playground.
The Devonport team chose to project manage the improvement of the maintenance processes at Dartmoor Zoo Park (DZP), which involved looking at the zoo’s processes, resource and communication. Improving the management of DZP’s maintenance processes enables the zoo to allocate more time to mentoring volunteers who come from a range of backgrounds and have varying skill levels, many of whom are on a ‘Green Prescription’ – designed to improve their mental wellbeing.
Both groups had to report on each stage of the project and prepare a presentation to showcase their findings at the finals.
Speaking on behalf of the winning teams, Steven Penman, Babcock Director who chairs the Marine Sector Project Management Capability Panel, said: “It is a real honour for the Babcock teams north and south of the border to win this prestigious award, which is testament to their hard work, dedication and innovative ideas.”
In 2016, a group of Babcock apprentices at Rosyth won the Scottish award while raising money for CHAS from a site-wide raffle at Rosyth. They based their project on the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers, being assembled at the site.