Established by Sellafield Ltd in 2019, the Programme and Project Partners (PPP) is a 20-year partnership created to drive collaboration and change the way major projects are delivered at Sellafield. The partnership champions a collaborative approach, operating through contracts with Morgan Sindall Infrastructure, KBR, Jacobs, and Altrad Babcock, and a wider supply chain. PPP recently won the Government’s Infrastructure and Project Authority (IPA) Inclusion and Diversity Award. Here, Claire Gribben, PPP’s Talent and Inclusion Manager, tells NCFD’s CEO Solat Chaudhry how it has propelled the partnership to a real position of strength and given the collaboration confidence to build momentum in further developing its diverse workforce.
When Claire Gribben heard the news that PPP had been shortlisted for an award by representatives of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and the IPA, she was overjoyed, especially as there were more than a hundred nominations across all the categories.
The news got better when she heard PPP had won.
“It’s great for our partnership to get acknowledged and to be recognised by the government department that’s responsible for what we are doing at Sellafield. We were up against strong competition in the DWP, who are doing a great piece of work around making their recruitment process more inclusive, we hope this is good news for the nuclear sector.”
Chatting with Claire, she tells me she was shocked to hear PPP had won the accolade, but as CEO of the National Centre for Diversity, which has been working with the team for around a year now, I know how committed Claire and her colleagues are, and it certainly wasn’t a surprise for me; after all, they have a fantastic work ethic, all dedicated to their inclusivity project.
Commitment shines through, as does Claire’s positivity when I say I wasn’t surprised. “It’s great to get an award and a nomination, but to me, this is work that doesn’t stop. Inclusion keeps going. It’s every day; there is always work to be done,” she said.
“You never go into these things thinking you’re going to win, but I know all the work PPP has put in, and Solat, we’ve made great progress and we’re already having conversations about things we want to continue to develop because, as you know, inclusion is a journey.”
Claire says, it was lovely to share the praise with the people who have played an important part in the journey; “It’s a whole team effort to make it all happen.”
“It’s nice to be able to represent the work we do, bring it back, and say, ‘You all did this’. This isn’t just me; this is everybody. Let’s keep going, let’s keep going forward, and let’s bring people with us.”
I’m also proud that our FREDIE work was specifically recognised, which I believe separated the work Claire is doing from other companies, and it’s nice to hear the recognition.
FREDIE is so much bigger than talking about EDI, which you just hear all the time. It is a buzzword now.
The PPP team is interested in FREDIE because the words that make up the acronym can be used as behaviours for everyday things. As Claire so eloquently puts it, “Especially for Fairness and Respect, which are key, particularly in the collaborative environment that we’re in because we are five companies coming together, we need to be fair when we are dealing with each other, we need to be respectful, and we need to treat people equally.
For Claire, FREDIE formalises something that PPP is doing anyway, but says, ‘Right, okay, we’ve got a structured framework here, and this is how we start to bring this to life’.
“We know there’s more work we want to do. We’ve got a few things lined up that I feel quite excited about in terms of the next steps when it comes to behaviours and FREDIE in the workplace, but EDI is just one little bit of FREDIE.”
Those six key factors sit right at the centre of collaboration, and it’s great to hear that EDI is literally at the centre of FREDIE. Claire is right, because some of the work that we’re going to be doing together in the next 12 months is exciting, cutting-edge stuff, particularly the Personal Inclusivity Development Programme, where we will be working with PPP’s top leaders, improving their ability to be inclusive based on those six key factors.
It is around how fair and respectful they are with all the different people they meet, their skill to be respectful and to treat people as equals, even though they might be far apart in rank and to apply their knowledge about diversity and ability to be inclusive, as well as their capacity to emotionally connect with people.
Claire’s pragmatic approach is impressive, and her aptitude for thinking about the future is striking. It’s exciting to hear her thoughts because she tells me PPP is doing all this with the future in mind as they want to be a workplace where the next generation of people coming through want to consider careers in nuclear, engineering, construction, project management, or commissioning.
“We want to bring the next generation in. And I think to do that, you’ve got to have an inclusive workplace. You’ve got to make sure that where you are is going to welcome everybody. It doesn’t matter who you are. You can come in and bring your best self to work. You’re going to be included. We’re going to do everything we can to make you feel welcome and belong and have a culture where you feel like you can fit without having to change yourself.”
It’s the recognition that what they are doing is important, especially in the nuclear sector, where there are, according to Claire, resourcing challenges.
“We need to be a great place to work for everybody who’s working on PPP right now and encourage people who are maybe in their teens or twenties to consider working in nuclear. What we’re doing is delivering ground-breaking, massive, major infrastructure projects. The work we do is exciting, and we want people to come and be part of that.”
“In nuclear, safety is key, so having a diverse workforce allows different voice to be heard and helps guard against ‘groupthink’. Hearing different views from different people with different backgrounds helps create an environment where people feel welcome to belong, contribute and feel part of a team.
The Programme and Project Partners (PPP) at Sellafield places a strong emphasis on creating social value through its long-term programme of major projects. This includes ensuring projects benefit the communities they serve, committing to developing the skills of local workers by providing training and employment opportunities, and prioritising environmental sustainability. Through the partnership’s values and culture, PPP is committed to cultivating a diverse, inclusive environment where colleagues at all levels have the opportunity to be their best and feel that their contributions are recognised.
In April 2023, PPP achieved Investors in Diversity accreditation, a nationally recognised quality mark representing an organisation’s internal commitment to building an inclusive culture. The partnership is the first in the nuclear sector to pursue the diversity award, setting an industry precedent, and is continuing their commitment to progressing inclusivity within the sector by undertaking the pioneering Personal Inclusivity Development Programme (PIDP).To find out more about Project and Programme Partners, visit: Programme and Project Partners LTD (PPP) | Linkedin
To find out more about the National Centre for Diversity and how FREDIE can transform your organisation’s culture, get in touch today.
