Case studies

The client’s capital projects operated across geographies with inconsistent delivery standards and no consistent global control or audit process. Leadership needed a reliable portfolio view, while delivery teams needed a common set of requirements for taking projects from investment planning through to operation.

The remit was to build the function from scratch: define the framework, establish the team and embed it across regions. The work had to connect departments as well as individual project stages.

Influence senior stakeholders and align delivery teams

Advised senior client leadership and aligned regional teams, internal departments and external delivery partners around the governance requirements. This required influence beyond direct line management: using evidence to challenge performance, agree responsibilities and secure action from vendors and colleagues outside the reporting line.

Connect the full project lifecycle

Designed the governance and assurance framework across Transactions, Projects and Operations. Policies, control points and stage gates set out the requirements for progressing work. Departmental handovers were defined and formally accepted, making responsibility explicit as projects moved between teams.

Establish a common capital planning cycle

Designed the process from regional data capture and validation through to stakeholder review. The capital plan brought scope, budgets, timelines, risk, quality and interdependencies together with resource requirements. This gave visibility of when project managers and other support would be needed, supporting procurement and administration planning.

Build the team and reporting capability

Established and led a team of regional governance leads, a data and process manager and a global cost lead. Introduced dashboards and reports for senior leadership, with reporting reaching Board level, and operated stage gate assurance to check that projects met the required standard before progressing.

Provide independent performance oversight

Established independent, data-driven KPI tracking across global project management vendors, applying a consistent basis for assessment and reporting across regions. Reported the findings to senior client management. The same scrutiny applied to the organisation providing the governance service as to other providers.

Connect processes and systems

Led the capital projects contribution to a wider PMIS and business change programme, covering processes, workflows, reporting requirements and outputs. Began developing the audit control capability alongside the governance framework.

A €500m global capital programme needed disciplined scrutiny of proposed investment and continued assurance of costs during delivery. Approval committees needed validated budgets, reliable benchmarks and a view of priorities and capacity. Auditors needed evidence that controls were being applied.

The work combined capital planning, cost assurance, business case scrutiny and audit control, through successive regional and global leadership roles. Regional responsibility initially covered a €100m annual portfolio before the remit expanded to the global function.

Influence investment decisions and hold stakeholders to account

Led executive client relationships and worked with senior leaders across Capital Projects, Real Estate and Corporate Services. Facilitated business cases for regional and global approval committees, using validated costs, benchmarks and delivery evidence to inform investment decisions and challenge assumptions.

Managed relationships across client teams and external vendors without relying on direct line authority. Alongside leading the PGO team, reviewed vendor KPI performance with providers and senior management, agreed corrective plans with underperforming vendors and aligned stakeholders around the required action.

Challenge budgets before approval

Led the cost managers assessing vendor budget submissions and presenting validated, revised costs. Integrated benchmarks from completed projects into business cases, using a common work breakdown structure and cost per square foot comparisons to bring evidence into the approval process.

Test the investment plan

Oversaw demand intake, triage and prioritisation against real estate strategy. Validated budgets and identified lower risk projects that could be deferred or removed when demand exceeded the available plan. Facilitated and validated business cases for regional and global approval committees, signing submissions off as fit for purpose.

Maintain control through delivery

Led global cost assurance covering cost reports, changes and Project Status Reports, checking figures against the audit trail. Savings were tracked monthly against actual expenditure to confirm delivery. Worked with internal and external auditors to demonstrate the controls and how performance was monitored.

Lead the function and its supporting systems

Led a global team of 18, including six direct reports, managing capacity across budget challenge, business cases, reporting and quality assurance. Owned development of the client’s project management platform, including upgrades and global adoption.