Project profession worth £186bn after £30bn growth since 2019
Professor Adam Boddison OBE, chief executive of APM, said: “We are excited to be launching our second Golden Thread Report at a pivotal time for project management with the UK economy recovering tentatively and net zero gathering pace.
“Our first groundbreaking report uncovered the scale and impact of the project profession to the UK economy and society that can go easily unnoticed. It emphasised its importance as a vital cross-sector competence no longer solely associated with construction and engineering.
“The Golden Thread 2024 deepens the view that our profession is the most vital ‘golden thread’ running through all sectors of the economy – driving quality, efficiency and strategic change. The economic value our profession adds has grown significantly by £30bn since 2019 with around 200,000 additional professionals, supported by traditional industries such as professional services and non-traditional industries including IT and technology.
“Our research is a vital contribution to the debate of the project profession as we seek to overcome a variety of challenges and opportunities and continue with our growth trajectory.”
Meanwhile, 68% of businesses polled think more organisations are starting to realise the value of project management as a concept. But over half are facing challenges with the skills gap – compared to a third in 2019 – and a separate 56% raised concerns over recruitment.
John Foster, chief policy and campaigns officer at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), said: “APM’s Golden Thread Report provides clear evidence of the contribution that the project profession makes to the UK economy and society.
“However, it also highlights further evidence of how talent shortages and the difficulty in attracting new talent is a barrier to growth and productivity. We must remove barriers to work to ease these shortages. A greater focus on helping people to gain the skills they need will help to build an inclusive economy where all talent is able to progress and thrive.”
Key findings from the report
The report, entitled in full: ‘Golden Thread: A study of the contribution of project management and projects to the UK’s economy and society’, commissioned by APM and undertaken by PwC Research, found:
The project profession remains a key contributor to the UK economy with an estimated 2.32 million project management (PM) full-time equivalents (FTE) – a rise of almost 10% from 2.13 million in 2019
- The project profession contributes £186.8 billion gross value added (GVA) – up by almost 20% from £156.5 bn in 2019 and equivalent to 9.2% of the UK economy. In contrast, construction GVA is £120.9bn and transport & logistics GVA is £63.4bn
- Professional and business services is the largest contributor to PM GVA and FTEs, representing a quarter of GVA and a third of FTE approximately
- Growth in non-traditional PM sectors such as IT and tech: GVA (£14.4bn) and FTEs (166,000) have both doubled
- Over 50% of businesses anticipate more projects over the next three years – a significant increase from 2019
- 68% of businesses think more organisations and sectors realising the value of PM will act as a positive enabler of growth
- Over half of organisations are facing challenges in finding the right PM skills – compared to a third in 2019
- 56% of businesses believe that difficulty in attracting new talent will act as a barrier to the growth of the PM profession
- Women were almost twice as likely to not be familiar with PM as a career
Chris Anstead, a director in the Global Programme Advisory Team at Turner & Townsend, a leading global programme management and construction consultancy, said: “Once upon a time projects were focused on digging holes and building things. But now projects and programmes are being used for all sorts of transformations with our clients applying our skillsets into much broader applications.
“We are starting to see greater application of programme management within organisations. In the past, they might have relied on operational departments to deliver individual projects. Now they are thinking more about driving step-change, improvements and ultimately transformation.”
Dave Corbin, head of client accounts at international property and construction consultancy Gleeds, said: “Successful projects – delivering the intended benefit on time and within budget – require strong project management. Without it the myriad of developments that the country needs to future-proof itself would simply not materialise.
“In the past the role of the project manager has been underestimated but I believe we have seen a shift in perspective and the value of having an effective, collaborative and highly skilled project leader is now widely recognised. I only hope that the positive trends revealed in this report continue and that as a profession we’re able to attract and retain enough skilled people to be able to meet increasing demand.”
To download the Golden Thread 2024 Report along with supporting case studies, visit https://www.apm.org.uk/resources/research/the-golden-thread/
