From Siloed to Synchronised: Building the Governance Foundation for a Fast-Scaling Nuclear Programme
Outcomes
The integrated governance framework gave executives the confidence to delegate decisions clearly while retaining meaningful control. A cohesive senior leadership team was able to provide aligned, options-based recommendations through streamlined escalation paths rather than fragmented, competing inputs. Centralised unified dashboards delivered a single, transparent view of programme progress for the first time, enabling data-driven prioritisation and trade-off decisions at pace. Consistent decision communication mechanisms rebuilt clarity and trust across the organisation. Externally, a more structured approach materially improved programme credibility and stakeholder satisfaction.
Background
Siloed behaviours had taken hold across the programme, leading to duplication of effort, inconsistent workflows, and slowed progress at precisely the moment when coherence and speed were most critical. Governance was either ineffective or entirely absent in key areas, leaving critical gaps in oversight and creating a vacuum that hindered timely decision-making.
The Executive team was operating without the actionable data needed to track progress, manage external stakeholders, or make informed decisions with confidence. Without a unified direction or a reliable picture of where the programme stood, development was being delayed, stakeholder relationships were under strain, and the credibility of the programme itself was at risk.
Curzon Approach
Curzon began with extensive stakeholder analysis to map the programme landscape in full, identifying root causes and contextualising the issues before designing any solutions. This diagnostic foundation was essential in a programme of this complexity, where surface-level interventions would have addressed symptoms rather than causes.
From this, an integrated governance framework was designed, combining clear processes, structured meeting cadences, and reporting cycles to align senior leadership and eliminate the fragmentation that had allowed silos to persist. Roles and responsibilities for decision-making were established with precision, supported by 17 key programme metrics with defined targets and clear accountability structures giving every metric an owner.
A comprehensive suite of dataflows and visualisations was then built, ensuring seamless reporting and integration across both internal and external governance structures. This data infrastructure was the engine of the new framework: without reliable, real-time visibility into programme performance, governance structures alone would have been insufficient to sustain the behavioural change required.
Throughout, the approach was collaborative rather than prescriptive. Working alongside the programme team rather than delivering from the outside ensured that the framework was not only well designed but genuinely owned by the people responsible for operating it.
CASE STUDIES
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Worst to Best in Twelve Months: A Multi-Country Division Transformed From the Ground Up
Outcomes
Within twelve months, the division rose from the worst-performing business in the group to its best. Operating margins tripled from 3.5% to an exit run rate of 10.8%. Accrued benefits reached $12 million and climbed to $1.6 million per month per month, 45% above the original programme target. Working capital was reduced by $25 million.
The transformation involved over 1,000 staff across all functions and 14 countries. The UK Management Consultancies Association recognised the engagement as Best International Project, and Curzon entered a risk-reward commercial arrangement tied directly to the benefits delivered.
The Divisional CEO said: “We wanted a step change in performance, done in a way that would build capability to make it sustainable. The results speak for themselves.”
Background
Underperformance was structural and deep-rooted. Production inefficiencies, inadequate cost management, and the absence of a coherent pricing strategy were compounding each other across a geographically dispersed operation. Previous turnaround attempts had failed. Leadership capability was uneven, and doubts existed over parts of the divisional management team. The challenge was not simply to cut costs, but to set the business up for sustainable, profitable growth in an environment where change had repeatedly stalled and where local management had yet to accept ownership of the problem.
Curzon Approach
Curzon recognised from the outset that a transformation spanning 14 countries and 1,000 people could not be parachuted in from the outside. Local credibility and cultural fit were non-negotiable prerequisites for gaining the management ownership that previous attempts had failed to achieve. Curzon partnered with a local consulting partner to bring the right on-the-ground knowledge and relationships, while providing the programme architecture and delivery rigour that the engagement demanded.
Exceptional emphasis was placed on set-up. Targets and workstreams were not only clearly defined but actively accepted and shared by local management before implementation began. This front-loaded alignment work was critical: without it, the programme would have faced the same resistance that had defeated earlier efforts.
An 11-month implementation plan was then executed across four priority markets, managing a series of workstreams covering sales effectiveness, manufacturing efficiency, supply chain optimisation, and commercial management. Margin leakage was addressed through pricing optimisation, product mix management, and tighter discount controls. Operational excellence disciplines were introduced across manufacturing facilities. Inventory was rationalised and the corporate overhead layer reduced through better leverage of the regional shared service centre.
Running in parallel with these operational interventions was a sustained programme of capability development across management and teams at every level, ensuring the new performance levels would be owned and sustained by the business itself. An in-year ROI of over 3:1 validated both the commercial structure of the engagement and the pace at which benefits were realised.
CASE STUDIES
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Doubling General Aviation Revenue in Four Weeks: A Growth Strategy for a Regional UK Airport
Outcomes
- Growth opportunities identified within 4 weeks to double existing General Aviation revenue and double the airport’s share of the value chain
- New commercial model designed to monetise previously uncharged services, directly improving margin
- Redefined customer proposition developed to recapture market share lost to competing airports
- Strategic partnership framework proposed to extend the airport’s service offering across onward travel, concierge, and retail
Background
The airport’s GA operation was significantly underperforming its commercial potential. Services were being provided to the incumbent FBO without charge, creating an immediate and unnecessary margin gap. Customer understanding was weak, facilities were outdated, and the transit experience was poor. Competing airports were actively capturing market share by offering a stronger overall proposition. Poor pilot and broker behaviours were adding to operational costs with no mechanism in place to address them. The client needed a rapid, commercially grounded strategy to reverse the trend.
Curzon Approach
Curzon conducted a rapid commercial diagnostic and growth strategy across four areas:
Commercial Model Redesign — Previously uncharged services were identified and priced, including marshalling. Cancellation charges were introduced to drive improved pilot and broker behaviour and reduce unnecessary operational cost.
Customer Journey Redesign — The end-to-end customer experience was reviewed and redesigned to address the factors driving market share loss to competing airports, with facility improvements proposed to bring the lounge and transit experience up to a competitive standard.
Value Chain Extension — Affiliated third parties were identified to provide onward travel and concierge services, broadening the revenue base and capturing a greater share of the GA value chain. A discrete duty-free offering was also proposed to further enhance yield per customer.
Partnership Strategy — Existing partnerships and commercial arrangements were reviewed, with changes proposed to practices and third-party relationships to support the new commercial model.
CASE STUDIES
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Building a High-Performing Project Management Community: 5,000+ Hours of Capability Development Across a £23bn Infrastructure Programme
Outcomes
- Full programme rolled out to 730 project management professionals across a £23bn infrastructure portfolio
- 5,049 hours of remote learning delivered across 122 people in 9 project teams in the initial phase, covering a combined portfolio value of £3.3bn
- 89% of participants reported increased understanding and confidence in project controls; 86% in commerciality; 84% in project and programme management
- 69.6% increase in participants’ confidence in applying learning directly to their projects
- 64.8% increase in participants’ capability to successfully deliver projects based on programme content
- 100% of participants who completed the behavioural strengths assessment reported they could now play a role in creating a high-performing project team
- Digital Project Management Guidebook launched to 300+ employees, generating 1,000+ unique viewers
- 100,000 hours of on-site experience harvested and made digitally available across the project management community
Background
Inconsistent performance, delivery delays, and scope and budget overruns were endemic across the client’s project portfolio. A deeply siloed organisation meant departments and technical functions lacked collaboration and a shared view of primary objectives. Existing capability development programmes were too theoretical, focused on processes and systems rather than people, and were not translating into improved delivery on the ground. The client needed a fundamentally different approach — one that would shift culture, build genuine capability, and produce measurable improvement in project outcomes across a diverse and complex portfolio.
Curzon Approach
Curzon was engaged to interpret and structure the client’s vision for its Project Performance Accelerator programme into clear deliverables, and to co-create and deliver two products: an Immersive Learning Experience and a Digital Project Management Guidebook.
Immersive Learning Experience — Designed to disrupt conventional programme delivery, the learner journey took project teams through 16 hours of pre-learning, a behavioural strengths assessment, personalised coaching, a five-day immersive learning week, and two bespoke checkpoint workshops to embed knowledge. The curriculum was built around the full project lifecycle and adapted to different learning styles, covering project controls, commercial acumen, contractor management, risk, and ways of working. When the Covid-19 pandemic made in-person delivery impossible, Curzon rapidly redesigned the entire programme for remote delivery — without compromising learning outcomes or pace of rollout — and successfully completed the full rollout to all 730 target participants.
Digital Project Management Guidebook — A fully interactive digital tool giving the entire project management community on-demand access to practical, hard-earned insight from experienced practitioners. Curzon led content creation alongside the client’s subject matter experts, adopting a divide-and-conquer approach to safeguard client ownership while ensuring consistency and relevance across programmes. The Guidebook deliberately avoided duplicating existing manuals — instead curating the best available material into a single, accessible resource validated with senior stakeholders across the organisation.
A “working better together” model underpinned both products, driving a fundamental shift in how individuals interact, take ownership of overlapping workstreams, and solve problems collaboratively — moving the focus from systems and processes to people.
CASE STUDIES
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"Game-Changing" Independent Validation of the Target Operating Model for Europe's Largest Infrastructure Programme
Outcomes
- All recommendations adopted by the Steering Group for rapid action — a 100% adoption rate
- Deployment roadmap adapted based on findings, accelerating operationalisation
- Client described the recommendations as “game changing, equipping them to have the right conversations with stakeholders, and deliver an effective TOM”
- Critical gaps identified and addressed across a TOM underpinning a 555km high-speed rail programme
Background
The TOM had been developed internally over three years and represented a significant body of work. However, the Executive team required independent challenge to confirm it was comprehensive, robust, and fit for purpose — and guidance on specific areas posing operational challenges as they moved toward implementation. The scale and complexity of the programme meant the cost of gaps or blind spots in the TOM was extremely high.
Curzon Approach
Curzon adopted a red-team approach, drawing on senior executives with experience across multiple sectors to conduct a thorough, targeted review of the TOM and all underpinning artefacts. A series of immersive workshops and engagements with subject matter experts identified thematic areas for focus, which formed the basis of recommendations. Cross-sector benchmarks were used to enrich outputs and provide alternative approaches for TOM components. Bespoke case studies and models were generated to underpin recommendations and give the Executive team practical reference points for action.
CASE STUDIES
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85% Scope 1 & 2 Emissions Reduction and 90% Fleet Decarbonisation: Delivering a Sustainability Roadmap for a Major UK Airport
Outcomes
- 85% reduction in Scope 1 & 2 emissions by 2030 — exceeding initial targets
- 90% reduction in fleet emissions achieved following strategy deployment
- 100+ sustainability initiatives evaluated and prioritised
- Renewable energy plan established covering 50% of electricity needs by 2030
- Geothermal heating, energy-efficient utility systems, and advanced fleet transition strategies embedded
Background
The airport had set ambitious targets but had no execution strategy, no benchmarking against UK or European peers, and significant uncertainty among decision-makers about how to transition operations while continuing to deliver commercially. Over 100 potential sustainability initiatives existed with no framework to prioritise them by financial ROI, carbon impact, or operational feasibility.
Curzon Approach
Curzon delivered across four areas: Strategic Benchmarking — a comparative analysis of sustainability performance against peer UK and European airports established a baseline and identified gaps. Initiative Prioritisation — all 100+ initiatives were evaluated and prioritised using robust business cases detailing financial ROI, carbon savings, and operational implications. Sustainability Roadmap — a phased strategy was designed to meet 2030 and 2040 goals, with milestones aligned to sustainability targets and flexibility to incorporate emerging technologies (including hydrogen solutions post-2025). Implementation Plan — detailed plans were developed for all initiatives, covering timelines, dependencies, and required investments, underpinned by a unified governance framework to ensure stakeholder alignment and accountability. A lifecycle-based fleet transition strategy incorporating drop-in bio-fuel was implemented to enable phased vehicle replacement and immediate emissions reductions.
CASE STUDIES
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Restoring Investor Confidence and Delivering Cost Certainty Across a £20bn+ Nuclear Programme
Outcomes
- £465m private/public partnership sustained through a transformed PMO
- 33% increase in PMO High Performing Team attributes
- 34 business-critical initiatives executed and embedded
- 100+ workflows redesigned, aligned across 50+ senior stakeholder requirements
- Renewed investor and stakeholder confidence restored through transparent governance and communication
Background
The PMO had inherited outdated, disjointed workflows from a parent company that were not fit for purpose at nuclear programme scale. Governance structures were unclear, decision-making roles were poorly defined, and escalation paths were absent. Integration across cost, design, schedule, and risk management was failing. Stakeholder trust — critical for a privately/publicly funded programme of this complexity — had been significantly damaged, putting the entire programme at risk.
Curzon Approach
Curzon delivered a four-workstream transformation: Process Redesign — 100+ workflows were redesigned and implemented, unified across 50+ senior stakeholder requirements. Governance Framework — Robust decision-making structures, accountability mechanisms, and escalation pathways were implemented, improving cross-functional integration across cost, programme, and risk. Capability Uplift — High-Performing Teams (HPT) methodology and strengths-centric coaching were deployed to build PMO team capability, with 1-1 coaching accelerating individual development. Digital Strategy — A bespoke PMO intranet platform and digital suite were designed, built, and embedded, alongside a defined future-state digital strategy. A strategic transformation plan covering 74 initiatives across critical capability areas was created and delivered.
CASE STUDIES
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£70m in Assured Savings and a 30% Productivity Uplift: Digital Transformation of a National Road Infrastructure Programme
Outcomes
- £70m in assured cost savings delivered during the RIS2 period (2020–2025), with hundreds of millions projected in RIS3
- 30% productivity improvement achieved
- 5,000 shifts logged using a custom-built digital productivity app
- 500 employees trained on digital tools
- Supply chain buy-in secured for collaborative data capture, enabling consistent benchmarking across assets
Background
Productivity in the UK construction sector had increased by only 10% over two decades, compared to 30% across other industries. The client was experiencing project delivery failures — overspends, delays, and skills gaps among project managers — compounded by the absence of standardised productivity metrics or real-time data. Without consistent benchmarks, there was no basis for performance management or proactive issue resolution across the programme.
Curzon Approach
Curzon delivered a digital productivity transformation across five workstreams: standardised productivity metrics and baselines were established for key assets; a custom productivity app and dashboard were built to collect, analyse, and visualise real-time data; a Productivity Improvement Plan (PIP) was developed to define strategic goals and scheme-level targets; Productivity Optimisation Groups were formed to align supply chain goals with client objectives; and training, coaching, and change management were delivered to embed the new tools and ways of working. AI was used to accelerate insight generation throughout. Structured data feedback loops facilitated continuous improvement and enhanced supplier engagement through actionable insight.
CASE STUDIES
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Cutting Customer Minutes Lost and Reducing OPEX: Operational Turnaround for a Major UK Electricity Distribution Network
Outcomes
- £0.6m–£1.1m reduction in Customer Minutes Lost (CML) penalties
- 15–20% annual savings from reduction in CML
- Underperforming regions brought into alignment with top-performing areas, driving consistency across the network
- Fault resolution times improved through optimised staffing, targeted interventions, and enhanced resource allocation
Background
The client was experiencing escalating Customer Minutes Lost, triggering increasing regulatory penalties and profit erosion. Fault attendance was delayed by inefficient processes and governance failures. Resource mismatches — including skill imbalances and insufficient out-of-hours coverage — were slowing resolution times. Cultural resistance to change was hampering improvement efforts, and no robust performance management framework existed to drive accountability or track progress.
Curzon Approach
Curzon conducted a comprehensive statistical review of historical operational data to identify inefficiencies and establish evidence-based intervention points. Five workstreams were delivered:
Root Cause Analysis — Historical operational data was used to pinpoint the drivers of fault delays and long-duration outages. Resourcing Optimisation — Workforce distribution was rebalanced across shifts to address the highest-impact gaps. 24/7 Fault Management — Field assessment and reservoir development processes were streamlined for operational efficiency and accuracy. Process Automation — Emergency response protocols were redesigned and automated workflows introduced to reduce delays. Performance KPIs — Measurable KPIs were established to enhance accountability and track improvement over time.
Leadership buy-in was secured at executive level, ensuring alignment with strategic priorities, and continuous monitoring frameworks were embedded to sustain improvements.
CASE STUDIES
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$15m in Annualised Savings in Under 12 Months: Transforming Procurement at a Major International Airport
Outcomes
- $15m in annualised savings delivered, representing 11% of $136m targeted category spend — achieved within 12 months
- Savings delivered across seven categories: Technology Software (33% saving), Technology Hardware (10%), Transport (15%), Hard FM (11%), Airport Specialist (12%), Soft FM (7%), and Passenger Services (4%)
- Supplier base rationalised to reduce fragmentation, drive economies of scale, and simplify contract management
- Contract managers upskilled through three tailored training sessions, embedding a partnership mindset and improving relationship management
- Digital-first issue reporting introduced via a priority-based app, streamlining escalation and resolution
- Supplier night work reduced following endorsement of a supplier-led proposal — improving workforce safety and wellbeing
Background
The airport was carrying significant procurement inefficiency across its supplier base — fragmented contracts, over-specified requirements, poor demand management, and limited commercial rigour in supplier negotiations. Contract managers lacked the skills and confidence to challenge suppliers or drive accountability. The client needed a structured, multi-lever approach that would deliver hard savings quickly while building the internal capability to sustain them.
Curzon Approach
Curzon deployed a two-phase approach over approximately 16 weeks:
Phase 1 — Spend Transparency and Opportunity Assessment (c.7 weeks): We mapped spend across all targeted categories, identified inefficiencies, and produced a strategic roadmap prioritising savings opportunities by impact and feasibility.
Phase 2 — Sourcing Strategy Execution (c.9 months): Five levers were deployed simultaneously: competitive strategic sourcing to identify best-in-class suppliers; specification optimisation to remove unnecessary requirements without compromising safety or quality; supplier consolidation to reduce fragmentation; demand management to challenge volume assumptions and eliminate unnecessary spend; and direct negotiations using spend insight to secure stronger commercial terms. A supplier conference brought together over 50 key supplier organisations to communicate the new strategy and vision, focused on service, efficiency, and innovation.
Targeted training and coaching ran throughout, upskilling contract managers to break established inertia and embed a culture of ongoing commercial accountability.