AWE’s pioneering infrastructure programme, the Future Materials Campus (FMC), sets to revolutionise the infrastructure and technological capabilities of major infrastructure projects throughout the country.
AWE’s pioneering infrastructure programme, the Future Materials Campus (FMC), sets to revolutionise the infrastructure and technological capabilities of major infrastructure projects throughout the country.
AWE’s pioneering infrastructure programme, the Future Materials Campus (FMC), sets to revolutionise the infrastructure and technological capabilities of major infrastructure projects throughout the country.
Funded by the UK Government, the FMC will host world-leading science, positioning the UK at the forefront of scientific innovation and creativity well into the next century. It will also be the largest programme to adopt the Project 13 principles to date.
The FMC programme is implementing techniques that will transform the UK’s construction and infrastructure industries. To do this AWE needed to recruit forward-thinking people who would be able to build a collaborative supply chain and explore new ways of working; with cutting-edge materials, tools, and techniques.
For this role, AWE were looking to bring on board a Non-Executive, Independent Advisor for the Future Materials Campus (FMC) programme. This pivotal role would involve providing independent scrutiny, challenge, and guidance, while also promoting collaboration with the programme team.
The ideal candidate would have to effectively engage with key stakeholders from the Defence Nuclear Organisation (DNO), Ministry of Defence (MOD), Cabinet Office, and the Treasury to ensure the programme's objectives are met.
The programme demands a highly experienced individual with extensive expertise in leading major programmes within critical infrastructure and engineering.
Recognising the project’s significance, it was essential for the chosen candidate to have experience with a Tier 1 infrastructure contractor, major client organisation with sizeable capital delivery programmes, or an EPC contractor.
Typically, candidates would have been Chief Executive Officer or Programme Director of a c£3 billion + infrastructure programme and would now be looking for non-executive directorships and advisory roles.
One of the major challenges was engaging with highly esteemed individuals, many of whom hold prestigious honours for their service to the industry. These respected figures were understandably difficult to reach and required a thoughtful, strategic approach. Drawing on our extensive experience in similar assignments, our consultant conducted comprehensive research into their backgrounds and projects, leveraging mutual connections and shared experiences to build trust and establish rapport during initial approaches.
It was also important that our consultants really understood the significance of the opportunity and how pivotal the FMC programme is to the UK in terms of both security and in adopting technological capabilities for the future of infrastructure in the UK.
From a longlist of 64, Newsom Consulting presented a shortlist of 9 well-known industry experts. Due to the strength of the shortlist AWE decided to recruit two Independent Advisors, rather than one. One of the successful candidates had over 40 years of major programmes and engineering leadership experience in the military, UK infrastructure, and construction, with excellent knowledge of major programme management, multi-disciplinary engineering and construction, assurance, business operating models, and government relationships and had been Chair of Crossrail. The other had extensive experience within the defence sector before moving into major infrastructure projects operating at executive leadership level.
“AWE have partnered with Newsom Consulting to provide executive recruitment for senior leadership roles across our major programmes. Their network and access to that network has really stood out. They have an excellent understanding of major programmes and have been able to make valuable contributions immediately in briefing meetings, in contrast to more generalist mainstream headhunters.
Newsom Consulting delivered a field of strong candidates at longlist, shortlist and through to interview and offer, with three candidates at the final stage who all could have been appointed. They followed through, assisting us with the offer process, ensuring candidates were kept informed throughout. At shortlist their matrix scoring tailored to the specific role competencies was really useful. I highly recommend them.”
Andrew McNaughton, Executive Director - Capital Programme, AWE
