On reflection 2013

On reflection
Collaborating, improving
and growing
Samir
Contents
8
Cover shows:
From left to right: Glynn Russ, Electrical Engineer; Vicki Lewis,
Senior Engineer; and Colin Shapter, Chemistry Engineer,
walking on the perimeter road of EDF’s Hinkley Point B nuclear
power station near Bridgwater, Somerset, UK. AMEC provides
reactor support services and played an important role in
extending the life of the station. Photo provided by Gregoire
Bernardi/Nuclear Industry Association
Improving ourselves,
our processes
and bringing
improvements to
our clients
Page 22-23
Never compromising
on safety, globally
Page 24-27
Achieving efficiencies
through smoother
processes
Page 28-31
Strengthening
business using
the AMEC Way
Page 32-39
Back cover shows:
From left to right: Adam Finch,
Commercial Coordinator; Heejin Noh,
Process Engineer; and Nady Ferreras,
Business Development Proposals
Manager, working in our Oil & Gas
Canada office, Calgary, AB, Canada
40
Sustainably delivering
excellence
Page 40-44
Oil & Gas
Page 45-49
Environment &
Infrastructure
Page 50-53
Mining
Page 54-57
Clean Energy
Page 58-61
62
AMEC; the next
30 years
Page 62-63
Achieving
Engaging our people
for success
Page 17
18
Developing our biggest
assets, our people
Page 18-21
This photo:
From left to right: Minzhe Lan,
Instrument Engineer; Yingping Shen,
Project Administrator; and David
Mullahey, Lead Electrical Designer,
Shanghai, China
Growing
Improving
collaboration through
High Value Delivery
Centres
Page 15-16
Improving
Collaborating
2 \\
Collaborating and
supporting our clients
Page 8-14
4
On what matters for
AMEC, its future and
his 10 top achievements
in 2013
Page 4-7
Alone we can do so little,
together we can do so much.”
Helen Keller
// 3
Top 10 achievements
It’s been very difficult to choose, so apologies to those I have excluded
Collaborating
for success
Samir Brikho, Chief Executive
The start of the year provides a natural time
for reflection; a time to celebrate all that we
have achieved and consider where we go next.
It is already more than a year since we
changed our organisational structure to focus
on three geographic business units. I spoke
then about thinking beyond 2015, preparing
for long-term success by collaborating,
improving and growing – and so achieving
our goals. Throughout this publication you
will hear our employees sharing what we
have achieved so far and my highlights are
shown opposite.
Here I want to focus on what matters for
AMEC’s future and what we each need to do
to achieve long-term success together.
We have a strong and improving position in
our chosen sectors, but our markets do
not stand still - and nor can we. Just consider
how different AMEC was in 1982 (see our
30th birthday celebrations on page 7).
Back then we were using slide rules
rather than PCs and smart phones were
unimaginable. How the world has changed!
4 \\
To protect and build our business for the next
30 years, we need to:
Be resilient and agile, alert to what is
happening outside the company as well
as within
It’s been very difficult to choose, so
apologies
to those
I haveour
excluded.
Collaborating
to support
customers.
We are seeing a better ‘One AMEC’ approach
to selling our services and to delivering projects
for our customers – and we need to do even
more of this.
Strong safety performance and in DJSI1 for
the 10th year in succession. 2013 saw the best
performance in five years in TRCFR2 and AIF3. We
can be proud of our disciplined approach to health,
safety, security and the environment, but we can
never afford complacency.
Our Middle East order book has never
been higher. The Middle East is a key focus
area for us and there have been a number of high
profile project wins and renewals recently. We
need to build our position and reputation there,
to support long-term growth. In 2013 we
sponsored the TAKREEM Arab Achievement
Awards for the first time.
Improving our position in the mining market.
Australia is a tough market at present, so the
award of work on Roy Hill is particularly pleasing.
Celebrating 30 years as a listed company.
While remaining focused on the next 30 years.
Supporting those who need us. Nashville and
Portland (US) people from Environment &
Infrastructure (E&I) offices worked together to
design transitional shelters for IFRC4. In addition,
we raised £25,000 for emergency relief efforts in
Syria and The Philippines.
Winning best employer awards in Canada
and being one of the UK’s ‘most in demand
employers’ on LinkedIn. It’s great to be
recognised in this way in the year that we launched
our employer brand ‘Why AMEC’.
emember that our culture and our brand
R
are intimately linked; it is the clever people
we employ who deliver excellence for our
customers. We need to be developing our
people and ourselves, ensuring we all
have the skills and experience we need to
satisfy our clients’ requirements and grow
our careers
The strength of our conventional oil & gas
business, particularly in the UK North Sea.
Do you agree? What have I missed?
Join the discussion on AMECnet + Yammer
and include the topic #Onreflection!
Keep collaborating, working together
across offices, sectors and time zones and
identifying new opportunities to grow
We have been winning and executing contracts for
existing and new customers, successfully
recruiting where required despite resource
constraints.
Execution excellence on US solar projects.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Do things the AMEC way, improving overall
by sharing best practice and ensuring our
customers know what they are buying
wherever they are working with us. Avoid
reinventing everything every time
Stay focused on our customers and how
their requirements are changing. As one
business guru said, being relevant to your
customers only when you’re trying to sell
something means choosing to be
irrelevant to them for the rest of the time.
Wise words to remember for a company
that is looking to keep growing.
Giving us confidence to expand our activities
and win the 250MW project for Sempra US
Gas & Power.
In 2014 we expect to achieve our Vision 2015
target of earnings per share greater than 100
pence – a whole year early. I really do appreciate
and thank you for all the hard work and effort
which has gone into this. But we cannot afford to
congratulate ourselves for too long or someone
will be along to eat our lunch. Page 6 explains
our ‘2015 and beyond’ strategy in more detail but
Establishing our new shared service centre
in Manila. I am delighted to welcome our new
employees to AMEC.
Dow Jones Sustainability Index
Total Recordable Case Frequency Rate
All Incident Frequency (Rate)
International Federation of Red Cross / Red Crescent
in summary, it is simple: by collaborating,
improving and growing we will ensure we are
achieving our goals.
Enjoy reading On reflection and do join the
#Onreflection discussion on AMECnet + Yammer.
// 5
Our strategy for 2015 and beyond is very simple.
We want to grow, by:
Enhancing our position in our four chosen markets: oil & gas,
mining, clean energy and environment & infrastructure
Increasing our capabilities and the range of services we are
offering to our customers
Expanding our geographic presence, particularly in Growth Regions
Our goal is to be the partner of choice for our customers, the employer
of choice for our people and the company of choice for investors. We
can only ensure we are achieving this goal by collaborating, improving
and growing.
03 Speaking about KPIs, results
and priorities at a town hall
meeting in Perth, Australia
06 In discussions with
employees during a town hall
meeting in Atlanta, GA, US
04 A recent town hall in Oakville,
ON, Canada became the first to
be broadcast using Lync to other
offices in Canada and the US
07 With Kim Yon Chang, the
Vice Mayor for Economic Affairs,
Daegu Metropolitan City, at the
22nd World Energy Congress,
Daegu, South Korea
05 Celebrating 30 years of
AMEC’s listing on the London
Stock Exchange, with employees
who are 30+ year veterans
This whole publication is full of examples of how we are collaborating,
improving and growing. Contact communications@amec.com if you
have other examples to share – we’d love to hear from you!
Look out for
the charity and
community stories
throughout the
publication
02 Presenting the
award for ‘Innovation
in Education’ to
Jihad Shoje’ah
at the TAKREEM
Arab Achievement
Awards, sponsored
by AMEC for the first
time in 2013
6 \\
01
03
Did you know?
Our values are even reflected in our logo. The
‘touchstone’ represents the standard or criterion
by which something is judged or recognised.
In AMEC’s case that is our values and how we
sustainably deliver excellence to our customers.
Did you know?
04
We are also sharing
lots of AMEC facts
throughout the
publication
01 AMEC plc’s board
visits the Kearl Oil
Sands Project, Fort
McMurray, AB,
Canada
02
08 With Paul Little, Offshore
Recruiter; Andy Williams, HR
Adviser; and Jamie Garden,
Deputy Project Director,
at Offshore Europe’s 40th
conference and exhibition,
Aberdeen, UK
05
06
07
08
// 7
Collaborating
Collaborating
g
n
i
t
a
r
o
b
a
l
l
o
C
Delivering excellence
together
Collaboration is ‘the action of working with someone to produce
something’*. In AMEC, we see collaborating as working with other
parts of the business, utilising available resources and skills from
elsewhere in the world, cross selling our services, building on our
strengths and delivering excellence. By collaborating, we improve our
efficiency and deliver the whole breadth and depth of our expertise and
capabilities to our customers.
Collaborating and
supporting our clients
KNPC – working across the world
Our work in Growth Regions can be
extremely challenging. “I have been
in Kuwait for the past seven years
and thanks to my previous experience
in the Middle East it wasn’t much of a
shock when I moved here,” shares
Amir Khan, Projects Control Manager.
We maximise our potential for long-term success by collaborating
together. Delivering excellence to our customers is easier when we
can call on all of AMEC’s considerable talents to support them.
Collaboration adds value and improves how we do business – and in
challenging markets, that has to be a good thing. We need to see even
more of it in 2014.” Simon Naylor, Group President, Americas
8 \\
Our offices in
Kuwait are working
together with those in
London, UK, to deliver
project engineering
and management
services for Kuwait Oil
Company. From left
to right: Tariq Afroz,
Project Engineer;
and Janifer D’Souza,
Secretary, Kuwait
*Oxford Dictionary
The Project Engineering &
Management Service (PEMS)
contract we have serves a number
of clients within KNPC (such as
the projects department, the three
refineries and local marketing depots
within KNPC), with a variety of work
requests. “It is, therefore, an everyday
challenge that demands extensive
engagement with these teams within
KNPC. Understanding the local
culture comes in handy but there
is a fine balance between meeting
expectations on scope and quality
while not exceeding cost, staying on
schedule and ensuring that the high
working standards set by AMEC are in
no way compromised.”
The work includes feasibility studies,
development of front end engineering
design, project & construction
management as well as the integration
of AMEC staff into teams managed
directly by KNPC. The nature of this
project makes it hard to estimate and
resource the work in a timely manner.
“The contract was first awarded to
AMEC in 2007 for a period of five years
and was extended till September 2013.
Following the successful completion,
the contract was re-tendered by KNPC
and once again won by AMEC, in a
bidding process involving eight bidders.
This time, however, the potential scope
is almost three times larger, so
we expect to be involved in more
challenging work in the future,”
continues Amir.
// 9
Collaborating
Collaborating
AMEC Banff Jasper Relay team
celebrates 19 successful years
AMEC teams (see
article) come
together to develop
and deliver webbased environmental
compliance training
courses for the US
Army across Europe.
Photo shows Oliver
Schuck during a
training session with
the client
“This contract is a good example of
collaborating, with offices in Kuwait
and London sharing work on a 50:50
basis. In addition, to meet client
requirements we also tapped into the
specialist skills AMEC has elsewhere,
drawing on environmental &
infrastructure services from the
US, power expertise from the UK
and US, and oil & gas expertise
from the US and Canada. It’s great
to have the option to call on people
from elsewhere in AMEC who
have the skills the client needs,”
concludes Amir.
US Army – delivering success
around the clock
Our Training & Development Services
business, operating out of Vancouver,
BC, Canada, collaborated with other
AMEC offices on several projects
throughout the year. When Oliver
Schuck, Practice Area Lead for
Information Management in our
Environment & Infrastructure (E&I)
office in Kaiserslautern, Germany,
started looking for the right training
provider for our long-term client, US
Army, he found the team in Canada.
“To find someone who could help with
this service, it was essential to have a
close relationship with my peers in
We are providing so many unbelievable things and
sometimes I think, hey, AMEC can do everything. It’s amazing.”
Oliver Schuck
10 \\
The Banff Jasper Relay, billed as
‘the most beautiful relay in the
world’, is a 258-km run through
Canada’s majestic Rocky
Mountains. The AMEC Avengers
relay team consists of dozens of
AMEC employees who have raised
more than US$50,000 since 1995 for
the Brain Tumour Foundation of
Canada. In 2013, the team members
dedicated their participation to dear
friend and former colleague Amy
Miller, who worked in the Westford
office and passed away from cancer.
The team included AMEC personnel
and clients across North America.
our Information Management
Practice group across the company,”
shares Oliver. “The project is about
provision of online training courses
for environmental officers in the US
Army in Europe; however, we also
provide some classroom training in
garrisons in Germany, Italy, Belgium
and The Netherlands. Our Canadian
colleagues developed the software
and we in Germany are now doing
maintenance and support.”
says: “It’s great to show we can sell
different services and we would like
to offer the same to private clients as
well as to the US Air Force. I like this
project very much, for it contains
everything that makes AMEC a great
place. We’re working with our
colleagues in Canada and providing
new services to our customers.”
This project has also provided a
couple of ‘firsts’ for Training &
Development Services. “We typically
work directly with customers to
provide the learning management
system and most of our clients work
in oil & gas, but this gave us a new
opportunity to offer our services to
our colleagues in Europe in a
different sector,” says Andy Lumb,
Applications Developer based in
Vancouver. “It was quite challenging
due to different time zones but
ultimately it worked to our advantage,
as we were able to assist the client
16 hours a day.”
The Clough AMEC
team based in
Australia and Training
& Development
Services in Canada
bring together
technical and
training expertise
to help deliver the
Queensland Curtis
LNG project, the first
in the world to turn
gas from coal seams
into LNG. See page 12
AMEC has been working with the US
Army for many years and as Oliver
// 11
Collaborating
Following the
Fukushima Dai-ichi
reactor power
plant incident in
2011, AMEC has
been performing
remediation activities
utilising our ‘Orion’
technology, in towns
both inside and
immediately outside
the 20-km restricted
zone. Photo shows
an Orion Scan Plot
operator performing
a radiological survey
on mountain roads
in Iwate Prefecture,
north of Fukushima
Collaborating
QGC – strengthening client
relationships through collaboration
In Australia, the Clough AMEC joint
venture (JV) also utilised the skills of
Training & Development Services on
the Queensland Curtis LNG project.
“The deliverables were quite
extensive, from developing training
and assessment materials to the
overall framework with which to
manage all training modules,”
explains Gerard Aguila, Training
Specialist from Vancouver. “It can be
exciting when we develop materials.
We are capturing the client’s
requirements but also have to make
sure we comply with federal standards.”
The project was won jointly and
Clough AMEC has been working
with the client on a day-to-day basis.
Anne Kitchen, Principal Consultant
for Competency and Development,
Brisbane, Australia has regular
discussions with the client, finding
out what they need. “There is a
great collaboration among the client,
Clough AMEC and Training &
Development Services. The customer
has been happy and in 2014 we are
kicking off another project working
for the upstream operating unit
at QGC.”
Building our footprint in Japan
After the Fukushima nuclear disaster,
our US E&I business was engaged to
survey radioactively-contaminated
land and sort clean soil from
AMEC is facilitating the project with tested
tools and resources. We’re delivering to tight
deadlines, thanks to partnerships we’ve created
across the project.” Gerard Aguila
12 \\
radioactive soil (see photo, left). Our
UK nuclear services followed suit and
six months ago we established a
permanent presence in Japan.
“Currently, we are offering our
services to the entire Japanese
nuclear industry – their 50 reactors
are shut down and our technologies
can be applied to such reactors for
ongoing maintenance and also waste
management,” explains Paul Fleming,
Transformational Growth Director,
Clean Energy, Knutsford, UK.
“We can also help if Japan starts up
some of their reactors. We have been
sharing an office with the E&I guys,
which is very helpful. So far we’ve
secured a waste management
consultancy contract. You have to
start small and it could lead to a
major development programme,”
adds Paul. “We can offer some great
technologies, for example, one that
seals leaking pipes in thick shield
walls in nuclear power plants or
pipes that you cannot get to. We’ve
applied it in the UK, Canada and once
in India.” Paul adds that a new
decommissioning body has been
formed in Japan and AMEC has just
submitted a proposal to them which
originated as a collaboration between
the UK and Slovakia. “We are mainly
leading with AMEC technologies at
the moment but around that we will
introduce other consultancy and
engineering expertise. There are a
lot of opportunities out there for us,”
concludes Paul.
Vale – collaborating underground
What happens when ‘One AMEC’
kicks in? We win a project. In October,
AMEC was awarded the Front End
Loading (FEL) study for Vale’s
underground mine at Voisey’s Bay in
Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
This is our first major contract for Vale
though we have previously worked on
several small studies. “Although this
is a mining project, the bulk of work
is being done by Power & Process
Americas (PPA) assisted by E&I. So
people from various parts of Canada
and the US have joined in and
relocated to St John’s, NF, Canada
to work together for our customer,”
explains Jodi Everard, Deputy Project
Training &
Development
Services in Canada
partnered with
AMEC Berca’s
office in Indonesia
to deliver the
Banyu Urip project
for Mobil Cepu
Ltd., a subsidiary
of ExxonMobil.
Deliverables
included operations
and maintenance
procedures,
operations training
and performance
assessment. Photo
shows Stefanus
Dharmawan,
Engineering
Manager, Jakarta,
Indonesia
// 13
Collaborating
Energy experts from
our offices in the UK,
South Africa, Europe
and the US have been
awarded a contract to
support Eskom, the
main utility company
in South Africa.
Pictured is their
Koeberg nuclear
power station
Did you
know?
More than 8,000
employees are
now using
AMECnet +
Yammer to
communicate
across groups
and find skills
and expertise.
14 \\
Collaborating
Manager. “The current operation is
about 50,000 tonnes of nickel per
year. The open pit will be in a state
of production decline as of 2020
so Vale plans to develop the
underground mine, which will
extend the mine life. So far, we
have been focusing on getting
the project set up, confirming that
our project controls systems
(Convero, P6 and Staffing Plans)
are all integrated and aligned.”
This is an important project for
AMEC as Vale is a tier 1 client
executing many large projects
around the world. Jodi continues:
“This project also ties in with
AMEC’s strategy to ‘go
underground’, so it ticks all the
boxes. At the moment we have
around 40 people working on the
project but we will probably peak
around 90.”
Eskom – pulling expertise together
and winning
In October 2013, we were awarded a
contract that requires collaboration
across all the energy services we
provide. Eskom is the main utility
company in South Africa and brings
in companies to advise it on energy
matters. We won a place on the panel,
which means we can be called upon
any time to provide energy related
engineering and project management
specialist services. How did we do it?
“We contacted all of our offices
with various capabilities, nuclear in
Canada, renewables in the US, E&I
and Transmission & Distribution in
Europe and the mining office in
Johannesburg,” says Andy White, VP
Nuclear Services, Knutsford, UK.
“So we pulled all of that expertise
together, submitted a proposal and
were appointed to the panel for five
years. We are providing specialist
skills here, consultancy skills. It
was great to see how everybody
enthusiastically supported this
project. This is about AMEC worldwide
working together as one and winning
an important piece of work.”
Improving collaboration
through High Value
Delivery Centres
A High Value Delivery Centre (HVDC),
focusing predominantly on the oil &
gas sector, was set up in Jakarta in
2012. There are currently over 160
people working in the office. “The
HVDC supplements the businesses in
other parts of the world where there
may be either resource or skill
shortage, so it can provide a better
way to meet clients’ requirements,”
explains Nicky Moir, Engineering
Workshare Manager, Jakarta. “We
have delivered some great work for
the UK, Qatar and Canada but we are
still at the beginning of our journey.
There are many so-called ‘workshare
myths’, but people are opening up to
the idea of utilising the HVDC and we
are getting more interest from other
parts of the business.”
One of the projects successfully
delivered with the help of the HVDC
is an FPSO (Floating, Production,
Storage and Offloading) vessel
conversion for a confidential client.
We are responsible for the topside’s
detail design, and procurement and
project management for the conversion
element. We have now gone into the
final phase 3, which is engineering
support to the client on site.
Our HVDCs in
Shanghai, China and
Jakarta, Indonesia
act as hubs, serving
our clients by
collaborating with
offices around the
world, offering full
service capabilities
and delivering our
future strategy for
growth. Photo shows
Yantian Zhang,
Project Manager and
team in Shanghai,
China
Eskom wants international practice,
the best international thinking, state-ofthe-art skills, capabilities and processes.
We have all that.” Andy White
// 15
Collaborating
Collaborating
We must have a number of hubs around the world from which
we service our clients. Each of these needs to provide the same
competencies, the same level of delivery and quality, use the same
tools and have the same culture. This is a fundamental component
of our growth strategy. It will ensure we can configure the work we do
across time zones and at a cost to suit our clients’ requirements. We
have had some strong performances in Jakarta and good prospects
are projected for our HVDC in Shanghai in 2014. Channelling more
current work through these centres is absolutely crucial.”
Andy Ewens, Group Engineering Director
“The project was really fast tracked
so in order to meet the schedule, we
had to look for alternative resourcing
strategies. And that’s when the HVDC
came in handy – we drew people
from Jakarta into the project, we
appointed a workshare manager
from Australia and we also seconded
people from Jakarta to Aberdeen
to help the team there,” explains
David Thomas, Senior Project
Manager. “On top of that, we did
Photo shows
Craig Rankine,
Commissioning
Superintendant,
qedi, working
on hook-up and
commissioning
of the new
Jasmine facilities
for our client
ConocoPhillips
16 \\
some workshare with our Darlington
office in the UK. Eventually, we
executed about 100,000 hours
of workshare, of which around
55,000 were in Jakarta. We never
differentiated the work between
workshare and home office; the
workshare office was treated as
an extension to the project office.
The client was very happy and we
have subsequently been awarded
additional work.”
Engaging our people
for success
Employee engagement, diversity, global
mobility and people development were key
areas for the HR team to focus on in 2013,
and there was a lot of work done.
“2013 was mainly about improvements
within HR. We spent a lot of time pushing,
leading the business to be doing new and
different things, supporting the operation
of the business,” shares Will Serle, HR
Group Director. “In 2013, we started rolling
out ‘Why AMEC’, our employer brand
closely linked to engagement, throughout
the organisation.
“Achieving greater diversity and inclusion
is vital for us to meet our global growth
ambitions and deliver more creative,
innovative solutions to our customers,”
comments Lesley Birse, HR Director,
Europe, Aberdeen, UK. “Proactively creating
an environment where people’s individual
differences are valued will help us attract,
retain and engage the best people
worldwide. We want to integrate diversity
and inclusion into our business strategy,
our objectives and our processes. In time,
we want them to become embedded into
our culture and as accepted as the AMEC
Way, much in the same way that Health,
Safety, Security and Environment (HSSE)
has. This is the long-term goal which we are
all committed to achieving.”
Global Mobility was established as a centre
of excellence across AMEC to allow our
employees to be relocated in a consistent way
when needed by the business. “Last year, we
relocated around 300 people across three
business units. We have a collaborative team
in Canada, the UK and Singapore, with over 30
people working in the Global Mobility function.
Relocating employees is a ‘high touch’ activity
with up to 15 interfaces per relocation,” says
Rosie Hawkridge, General Manager – Global
Mobility, Singapore.
Caitlin Pyett, Policies and Practices Manager,
Global Mobility, explains further: “The first
step is to undertake due diligence in terms
of employment law and tax legislation. This
enables us to establish on what basis to
assign people and to provide the business
with an initial costing. In the second phase,
we look at potential packages for individual
employees. We then begin the relocation,
assisting with immigration, shipments, home
search and travel arrangements.”
Did you know?
In May, students from Houston Baptist
University visited AMEC’s London
offices. Positive feedback included:
“I strongly enjoyed visiting such a
successful company as AMEC. The
professional environment provided, as
well as the informative and interactive
presentation, made the whole
experience an incredibly beneficial and
amazing one.”
// 17
Improving
Improving
g
n
i
v
o
r
p
Im
Improving in
everything we do
Peter Jessup, Vice
President, Supply Chain
Management, attending
the AMEC Way Project
Delivery course, part
of the AMEC Academy
suite of courses,
Marlow, UK. The course
has now been rolled
out within Europe and
Americas
Businesses are constantly seeking new ways to maximise their
profitability and create long-term success. AMEC is no exception. In
2013, we improved many of our processes and the way we do things;
our health and safety performance; and the skills of our people, our
greatest asset, through extensive development programmes and work
opportunities. Last but by no means least, we helped our clients
improve their efficiency.
Developing our biggest
assets, our people
Improving is about getting better at
what we do and how we do it. And it’s an
ongoing process, continually looking for
new and better ways of working which
help us become stronger and more
resilient. We’ve made a lot of progress in
2013, with some great global and local
initiatives. The challenge continues in
2014 and I know we will, as always, rise
to this and take the company to the next
level.” Ian McHoul, Chief Financial Officer
18 \\
Since its establishment in 2009,
AMEC Academy has delivered many
courses to employees throughout the
company, helping them to progress
in their careers as well as nurturing
future leaders. “We are constantly
refreshing and improving our
programmes, be it the management
leadership programmes or career
planning development tools,” shares
Angie Jones, President, AMEC
Academy, Knoxville, TN, US.
Nate Robinson, Manager of Project
Controls, Atlanta, GA, US, and Steve
Kiser, Operations Manager, Charlotte,
NC, US, took part in the Future
Leaders programme in 2013. “I was
both honoured and surprised to have
been nominated by my manager,”
says Nate. “On this course one learns
more about AMEC, including parts I
didn’t even know existed! We learned
about excellent execution and how
we can collaborate across the
business to really support our clients.
We were given a project to address
one particular issue and present our
solution to the senior management
team. We also focused on personal
leadership, beliefs and on the actions
leaders exhibit.”
Steve, who joined AMEC through the
MACTEC acquisition in 2011, echoes
Nate’s views and adds: “In addition
to giving you the tools to be a better
leader, I think the connection with
other folks in the programme is
priceless and it opens your eyes
to what a great company AMEC
is. I always had a desire to go into
leadership and I still joke with my boss,
who recommended me, that I want his
chair one day! He is a great believer in
developing people and I was glad he
had nominated me. The manager’s
support is an absolute must.”
// 19
Improving
Improving
AMEC Academy is a fabulous part of the business.
I wish more people took advantage of the training and
development that is out there. I think AMEC is like no
other company – it really believes in its people and
champions the concept of people being a company’s
biggest asset.” Steve Kiser
From left to right:
Karl Pasmore,
Technical Director,
Greenfield
Operations; Chris
Nagle, Head of HR
Greenfield and E&I;
and Steve Radley,
Senior Project
Director, attending a
Customer Essentials
pilot workshop,
London, UK
The AMEC Way of project delivery
is effective and we intend to use it on
all projects.” Duane Gingrich
Joyce Wallace, Head of Leadership
Development, Aberdeen, UK, explains
that Delivering Results, AMEC Way
Project Delivery and Customer
Essentials are all programmes which
can be delivered within teams.
“This creates a critical mass of
people who have all had the same
development and we are therefore
more likely to see tangible
business benefits.”
The AMEC Way Project Delivery
programme, provided by AMEC
Academy, presents the AMEC tools
and processes for executing projects
in the best way possible and teaches
the importance of championing
AMEC culture and beliefs.
“I attended the course along with a
representative from each of the major
mining offices in North America and
we joined with several participants
from the Calgary oil & gas group,”
shares Duane Gingrich, VP Projects
and North America Operations for
Mining & Metals, Vancouver, BC,
Canada. “The training itself was
largely delivered by people
within the businesses. Using various
training techniques, we became
familiar with the available AMEC
Way material and the critical
contribution which culture, integrity,
communication and collaboration
have on strong project delivery.”
Focus on customers has been one
of our priorities and an integral part
of our values for years. We are now
taking our approach to the next level,
creating Customer Essentials, a
global programme aimed at building
a more customer-centric organisation.
“Customer Essentials will be piloted
in 2014 in Europe and then the
programme will be rolled out into the
organisation,” explains London-based
Policy
Delivery
Strategies
Common
Processes
Project Management
Plans
Procedures, Instructions, Forms (PIFs)
and supporting documentation
Common project delivery platform
(Convero and integrated applications)
Our systematic approach to project delivery
20 \\
Claire Day, Customer Satisfaction
Lead. “Customer Essentials will
complement ICARE, our existing
customer-focused programme
for leadership teams. Alongside
the AMEC Academy professional
facilitators, we’re using AMEC people
who can bring understanding of our
customers and our business to the
course. This way we will keep it real,
using real examples.
“The programme has been developed
based on customer feedback, so it’s
what our clients told us they want to
experience when working with us. It’s
about understanding the customer
and what our mutual success looks
like. Ultimately, the programme will
give people the tools, skills and
knowledge to think differently
about how they interact with their
customers day to day.”
Did you
know?
The Clean Energy
Europe team
organised
successful
recruitment
campaigns in the
Czech Republic
and Spain, ending
up with 40
high-calibre
potential hires.
In 2014, hiring
initiatives will
continue in
other European
countries.
// 21
Improving
Improving
g:
Sustainability trainin
2015 and beyond
giving staff a refreshed
on previous training
This program builds
nability. It is available
’s approach to sustai
understanding of AMEC
ing the link for
Academy website. Follow
to all staff on the AMEC
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more details http://redtra
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Improving understanding
of our ethical approach
2013 saw the launch of a new
simplified global policies document
and the global procedures that
support it, an online anti-bribery and
corruption training programme in
support of the Code of Business
Conduct (CoBC), and new
sustainability training.
Did you
know?
In 2013, AMEC
ranked as one
of the top
sustainable
companies
worldwide
(Sustainability
Yearbook).
22 \\
Our global policies document is
an important part of our corporate
governance framework. It works in
conjunction with the CoBC, providing
further detail and elaboration
on matters which affect all our
businesses. It describes the key
mandatory policy requirements
for directing and managing our
business where a consistent
approach is required across AMEC.
It is supported by a set of global
mandatory procedures which explain
in more detail how the policies are
to be implemented.
“AMEC is a UK-incorporated
company and as such, it and its group
companies have to comply with
certain rules and regulations around
the world, including the UK Bribery
out a sustainability
s - If you are carrying
Sustainability Pledge
we would like to
office or personally,
initiative, either in the
pledge on our
Make a sustainability
doing.
are
you
what
know
what you are doing!
Map and let us know
Sustainability Pledge
33643
www.amecnet.com/
http://
link
the
Just follow
Preparing students for the future
Working in partnership with UK’s
Hazlehead Academy, in June, a
group of AMEC graduates held a
student conference for S6 pupils
to teach them about teamwork,
communication and skills
assessments. The pupils were split
into groups and set two challenges
– the marbles challenge and a
mountain survival challenge. At the
end, the pupils discussed their
observations from the two challenges
and asked the graduates questions
about their careers at AMEC.
Act. The mandatory anti-bribery and
corruption training we introduced this
year demonstrates how seriously we
take our obligations,” shares Alison
Yapp, General Counsel and Company
Secretary, London, UK.
Our new sustainability training
programme is designed to improve
our behaviours and understanding of
AMEC’s approach to sustainability. It
highlights what we have done so far
and shows how we continue to
integrate sustainability into our
strategy going forward.
y@amec.com
ents write to sustainabilit
Any feedback or comm
1
3
2
4
5
Helping our clients
deliver savings
In 2013, we also helped our clients
save cost. For example, when
Cheshire West and Chester Council in
the UK inherited three different waste
collection systems, their objective was
to harmonise the service across the
borough and deliver cost savings
through a new collection contract.
“Acting as technical advisers, AMEC
developed technical contract
documentation, including the
evaluation mechanism,” explains
Alison Leavens, Associate Director,
Northwich, UK. “We supported the
Council through two rounds of
dialogue, evaluation of interim
responses and final tenders. This
new service will deliver savings of
around £76 million over the life of
the 14-year contract.”
In a different part of the world, our
team in Qatar helped USACE (US
Army Corps of Engineers) for whom
we are building 20 two-storey 1,600m²
billets on their Al Udeid Air Base.
“As we’re always looking for more
efficient ways to do things, we
suggested improvements to our
client, such as changing the walls to
precast concrete which saved a lot of
time – the billet installation takes only
42 days as opposed to the originally
scheduled 72 days. And, an additional
value engineering change was
executed in the foundation design,”
shares Toby Borge, Project Manager.
USACE is a long-standing customer
with whom we have being working for
many years in Europe, the US as well
as the Middle East.
Did you
know?
Our Power
Management
System, Joulex,
allows us to
monitor and
reduce both
energy and costs
associated with
our networked
equipment. Now
installed across
most of the world,
so far the system
has saved 236,943
KWh in total,
equivalent to
more than £25,000
per annum.
// 23
Improving
Improving
Safety is a key priority on all our projects. We
are providing EPC services on the expansion
underground of Newmont Mining Corporation’s
Leeville gold mine, Elko, NV, US, and the photos
on this and on page 27 show the No. 3 Ventilation
Shaft. This photo: work in progress on the
Emergency Hoist / Winch building; next photo:
Headframe and Sinking Winch structures
Wayne Seddon, Head of HSSE, UK
Never compromising
on safety, globally
Building and demonstrating an
excellent safety culture
How does a company make sure it has
sufficient talent available to work in
Health, Safety, Security and Environment
(HSSE)? Introduce its own HSSE graduate
programme! In 2011 such a programme
was created in AMEC; and what’s more,
it was accredited by the Institution of
Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH)
as the world’s first programme of this
kind. “The resource pool is getting tighter
so we thought, how can we strategically
support the growth of AMEC, and realised
we’d have to be able to grow our own
talent,” explains Wayne Seddon, Head
of HSSE, Europe, Ellesmere Port, UK.
The HSSE graduate programme is four
years long and goes hand in hand with
graduate development programmes
which exist in various parts of AMEC. It
includes 20 core areas split into individual
deliverables, including strategy, culture,
policy, processes and procedures, risk
management, active / reactive reporting,
emergency response and operational
HSSE. The programme utilises internal
24 \\
Vladimir Ivensky, Vice President HSSE, US
courses available through AMEC
Academy, external training and direct
learning from our trusted mentors.
“If you think about it, you are
identifying what is required to take
an HSSE graduate, a person with
some academic qualification relative
to HSSE and limited experience,
through to becoming a Chartered
Member of IOSH.
“In 2013, we completely revised the
criteria, which means graduates can
now actively manage their development
themselves. Changes in the criteria
also mean the programme can be
used by other HSSE professionals,
not only graduates.
“And my biggest aspiration? At the
moment we’ve got only UK graduates
in the programme but I’d like to use
this course across the globe to make
sure we’ve got a tool for HSSE
professionals to manage their
own development.”
Vladimir Ivensky is the Vice President,
HSSE, E&I in the Americas, based in
Philadelphia. For him, consistency in
HSSE is everything. “When I joined
AMEC 11 years ago, E&I in the
Americas was much smaller – now
we have 200 offices. We are taking
a holistic approach to our safety
culture, providing common tools
and platforms from shared safety
management systems. We are
also providing solid training and
reinforcing HSSE messages regularly
so that everyone knows what is
expected of them and how to
achieve success.
“Our consistent approach has
had a tremendous support from
the management and employees;
we work as one team and listen
to suggestions. The system
we’ve introduced is flexible and
comprehensive as it needs to
assist people in managing safety
for different scenarios,”
Vladimir continues.
Success also lies in being able to be open, talk
to each other, deal with everything properly and keep
moving on.” Donnie Nicholson
// 25
Improving
Improving
Donnie Nicholson, Delivery Manager,
Azerbaijan
“We are not only geographically
spread, but we work in multiple
industries, with various clients with
different requirements, and our role
may be a prime contractor or a
project visitor, you name it. But the
system must cater for all these
options,” he explains.
Did you
know?
In 2013, AMEC
was listed among
the top 20 ‘most
in demand’
employers in the
UK by LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is the
world’s largest
professional
network with
more than 238
million members
worldwide.
26 \\
“Just to illustrate our commitment
with one example – we have a
monthly safety topic and we’ve
never missed one for the past 11
years. And if we don’t announce it,
people come to us and ask where it
is. We produce a presentation which
is delivered by all local offices. The
local management is familiar with
the idea and supports it. We also
make sure that everyone is trained
for the tasks they do and again, it
is not simple due to the tremendous
diversity of our operations. So we
periodically conduct surveys on
personal risks and personal hazard
exposures and compare them against
our safety training database to
identify and close any gaps. Our
safety record is good but we must
not get complacent.”
The Chirag Oil Project – West Chirag
(COP-WC) has achieved over 20
million man-hours LTI (Lost Time
Incident) free over three years.
Donnie Nicholson, COP-WC Drilling
Delivery Manager, Baku, Azerbaijan,
shares his views on this enormous
success: “I believe this success is
down to engagement. We had 16
nationalities and around 3,800 people
working on the project and that can
be a challenge. This is not just about
‘ticking the boxes’, it is actually
following things through, right to the
shop floor. So for example, it is about
face-to-face communication with
everybody and again, that differs
when you are onshore and offshore;
it is also about having all materials
diligently prepared in dual languages,
in turn allowing us all to understand
what is required.
“When something happens to you
when working, it impacts your family
life. It can destroy it, so it’s not just
about you. The people on a project
like this are the most important part
– you get all different people coming
from various projects, take the best
practices from all of them and create
the best practice together. One of the
reasons for our success was the
alignment with the safety principles
of our client, BP, as you need to get
consistent messages to the people
who do the job.
In 2013, we continued to
recognise ‘the best of the best’
in HSSE through Chief Executive
Global Awards for HSSE.
Nominations were submitted
in three categories: Excellence in
HSSE, Beyond Zero and Innovation.
The winners will be announced
in 2014.” Nina Schofield, Group
HSSE Director
“This project was really exciting.
Imagine, you are creating something
and you see it grow in front of your
eyes. You start off - there’s just an
empty quay. And by the time you finish,
you have topsides weighing 20,000
tonnes there. Quite an achievement.”
“Nowadays, the culture is different;
the whole industry has totally
changed, you can see it just by
looking at the site. However, you can
have all policies and procedures in
the world, but unless you believe in
them, they are just a piece of paper.
// 27
Improving
Improving
On 13 December a new SSC in Growth Regions
was officially opened. In accordance with The
Philippines tradition, Father Gerry, the local
priest, initiated the opening ceremony with a
prayer and blessed all areas of the office with
a sprinkling of holy water.
Situated in a new business park, its neighbours
include BPO and Shared Services companies
such as Ford, HSBC, Convergys, Capital One.
66 people are already employed on the site,
including AMEC Operations office-based staff,
and there is room for up to 130 people.
From left to right: Andrew Middleton, Head of
Shared Services Centre; Jack Clarke, Director
of Change Management; and Honourable
Jaime Fresnedi, Muntinlupa City Mayor
We have made great
progress in 2013 around our
shared services programme
through the dedicated efforts of
many AMEC colleagues in Europe,
the Americas and Growth Regions.
We will move to the next phases
in 2014 and further improve our
support capabilities.” Jack Clarke,
Director of Change Management,
London, UK
28 \\
Achieving efficiencies through
smoother processes
Many companies use shared service
centres to handle their transactional
activities, aligning their processes and
establishing a similar way of doing
business around the company. AMEC
has increasingly been doing this in the
Americas and in Europe. In 2013, it was
decided to accelerate this process and
create a new Shared Service Centre (SSC)
in the Growth Regions.
“We are transitioning work out of Growth
Regions locations to Manila; we are setting up
a 24/7 IT HelpDesk – at the moment we are
supporting Europe, the Middle East and Asia
Pacific but we are adding a nightshift to be
able to support the Americas. We’ve got
groups working on finance and HR tasks
and last but not least, we are looking into
establishing a centre of excellence for MDAX
(more on page 39), so there’s lots to do,”
Supporting Save the Children
In Baku, Save the Children
supports refugees and their
children from Iran, Afghanistan,
Chechnya and Pakistan who
requested asylum in Azerbaijan.
In order to help the children get
the aid and education they need,
employees from our office in Baku
provided school uniforms and
a supply of materials for the
refugee clinic.
// 29
Improving
Improving
Collaboration is the key - this concept can
really become a game changer for AMEC but it
requires the whole business to collaborate and
work together.” Andrew Middleton
explains Andrew Middleton, Head of Shared
Services, Manila, The Philippines. “Our priority
is to develop the capability, letting the
business know we are here and can provide
required services. And we are on schedule –
we have designed the concept and now the
team is delivering on that.“
Andrew continues: “One of the strategies is,
of course, cost and process efficiencies. For
example, if AMEC acquires new businesses,
the SSC gives them a vehicle to quickly
transfer into AMEC’s processes. So we have
a ready-made tool to support further growth
through acquisition in line with our ‘2015 and
beyond’ strategy.
“To set up an SSC in Manila is a clever idea
as there are a lot of good people available
here, the market for administration roles is
excellent and English skills are at a very good
level as well. Other companies are seeing the
same opportunities in Manila; not only big oil
companies but even big law practices and
companies operating in other industries.
Firms are moving to The Philippines to tap
into the labour market and the capability
people have.
“This is a massive project and it is only partly
about saving costs. Unifying the processes
and taking away some of the routine work
from our client-facing locations lets them
30 \\
focus on the delivery to the client, while
we do the back office work. It is all part of
delivering excellence. We estimate that we
will have around 95 people at the end of
2014. Right now, we are working closely with
Australia, and Middle East but eventually we
will be supporting other parts of the business.
It is a slow process but we will get there.”
Don Navarette, Regional Infrastructure
Operations, joined AMEC in 2011 as a Senior
HelpDesk Analyst, was promoted to the Lead
and later offered his current role. “I fully
support the idea of SSCs as I worked for the
Shell’s service centre before and saw the
benefits they bring.”
AMEC celebrates Chile’s National Day
On 18 September AMEC celebrated
Chile’s National Day with an event
which was also attended by many
non-Chilean AMEC employees as
well as customers.
All employees collaborated to create
the best ‘fonda’, a big party thrown in
honour of this day. A part of the celebration
was also sampling traditional Chilean food.
Our new graduate website was
launched in October 2013 to showcase
the opportunities AMEC provides
Jehncy David, Management Accountant,
echoes Don’s views and adds: “Work is
really challenging here; right now, we do
regular brainstorming regarding process
improvements. I joined only in August 2013
but have been having a good time with the
company. When I joined, I was trained in
Australia; I also know it is possible to
move around within AMEC, which really
interests me.”
The AMEC career of Recruitment Officer
Cherryll Villaverde started in July 2013.
“I was looking for a challenge and when I
got the offer, I thought, good, I’ll be building
something from scratch. I know it’s weird but I
love challenges.” Cherryll hires for every role in
the Manila SSC, from IT, HR through Finance to
Accounting. “I have hired over 40 resources so
far and will be hiring more people in 2014.”
Before joining AMEC, Cherryll worked in a
shared service centre for another company.
“The concept is not new to me but with AMEC
it is different. AMEC cares about its employees
and I strongly believe we have resources here
in The Philippines who can support AMEC’s
needs. And we are doing our best to provide
the good quality services AMEC deserves.”
As a recruiter, I am looking for the best people to do
the job for AMEC, not only skills-wise but also attitude-wise.
And for people who could adopt the culture of the company.”
Cherryll Villaverde
// 31
Improving
From left to right:
Douglas Mlambo,
Consultant, Surface
Water; Paul Minto,
Principal Civil
Engineer; and
Carol Stanley, Legal
Executive, working in
our Newcastle office,
the ‘hub for water
projects’ in the UK. The
office has 200 people
and provides water
infrastructure and
engineering support to
customers including
Northumbrian Water
Improving
Strengthening business
using the AMEC Way
The worldwide implementation
of the AMEC Way has progressed
further and has had an encouraging
response from the businesses.
Peter Bailey, Director of Projects and
Construction Management and chair
of the Project Delivery Leadership
Team (PDLT) says: “Many of our
global clients expect us to execute
our projects consistently and the
AMEC Way will make that a reality
once fully implemented.
“It has taken over two years to
develop the new processes, systems
and training and make them available
for the businesses. We are pleased
with the uptake, although it is
32 \\
Peter continues: “Our challenge
going forward is to get feedback
from users to make it even better.
The personal commitment from
the individuals involved has been
remarkable. The PDLT thanks all
the people who have contributed to
getting us where we are. Much of this
effort has been done in addition to
their day job.
understandable, given the diverse
nature of the work we do, that
adoption has varied from business to
business. However, the early adopters
have seen the value, particularly
when executing projects across
multiple offices and businesses,
which is now becoming the norm.”
2013 Australian Starlight Campaign
The second annual Australian
Starlight Campaign was held in
May across our Perth and
Brisbane offices. Over the
three-week period we raised
over AUD$42,000 to brighten the lives
of seriously ill children in hospital and
their families. This will positively
impact over 1,140 children.
“The way Document Control
and Management (DC / DM) has
progressed in 2013 is a good example
of personal commitment. Scott
McDonald in Saskatoon, SK, Canada,
and Geoff Harrison in London, UK,
have been working together with the
various project and support teams
across numerous time zones. They
have been instrumental in the
piloting and improving of the inhouse developed integrated DC / DM
system, utilising Convero and the
SharePoint based Engineering
Workspace such that there is now
a robust global solution available to
all new projects.”
Geoff Harrison, Document Delivery
Manager, outlines the progress made:
“The DM / DC system represents the
first of the AMEC Way integrations.
The first production projects took
place in Saskatoon and Qatar. Other
deployments took place in London and
Brisbane, Australia, and the latest
of our six implementations have
benefitted from our now mature
engagement process. Requests from
the business anywhere in the world
go to either Scott McDonald (North
and South America) or me (Europe,
Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific) and
we tailor a response. Global IT
then manages planning and
implementation. Operations vet
requests for enhancements.”
The development of this suite
of tools has set the standard for the
subsequent AMEC integrations.”
Geoff Harrison
// 33
Improving
Improving
management system and increase
the likelihood of successful delivery
to customers.
Convero (part of our
AMEC Way project
delivery) is being
used to execute the
Husab project for
Swakop Uranium
in Namibia, Africa,
providing EPCM
services (Engineering,
Construction, Project
Management). Photo
shows the first haul
truck bodies delivered
to the site where the
haul trucks will be
assembled prior to
mining commencing
in the 2nd quarter of
2014. Read more
about the project on
page 54
34 \\
Vital role for Information Technology
The importance of technology in
the AMEC Way should not be
underestimated. Atlanta-based
Andrew Norris, Global IT Head of
Applications Service, says: “We’ve
been ensuring that all our software
applications facilitate the effective use
of Convero, Brownfield Suite and
Microsoft Dynamics. Progress in 2013
has included pulling together various
IT application groups into a single
team to harmonise the solutions for
our internal customers. Improvements
have been surfacing as a result. For
example, we have been enhancing
the features of Brownfield Suite and
driving those features into Convero,
and vice versa. As these products
merge into one overall project
management toolset, it will give us a
real point of difference with our
external customers.
“We are seeing a lot of innovation
across the businesses and the prize
is to be able to tap into it in a unified
way without constraining that
innovation. AMEC Way is about
running consistent processes globally
and in Global IT we are doing our bit
to ensure the applications are there
to support it.”
Quality assured
Elizabeth Beck, Manager of
Quality Assurance and Business
Improvement in Oil & Gas Americas,
says that they have been improving
the understanding of the global
procedures, instructions and forms
(PIFs) and their cascade into their Class
3 PIFs. They have also been helping
project teams to prepare their Project
Management Plans (PMP) to more
effectively plan and deploy their
Elizabeth says: “The consistent
approach to project planning enables
us to identify key areas on which to
focus our assurance activities: those
internal to the project and those
which needed to be performed by the
business operating unit to support
the project. We can then put more
effort in terms of resources and
management system processes in
those areas that can impact the
success of the project.
“During 2014 we will be focusing
on embedding the implementation
processes and ensuring all key
personnel are aware of, and are
using, the AMEC Way. We will also
be improving the way we execute our
work and expanding our capability.
The AMEC Way framework enables
transfer of personnel, processes and
systems across our operations. We
can confidently present our full
capability to our customers and take
on more scopes and larger roles on
their projects.”
In the field
So, how has AMEC Way been working
on the project front line? On an FPSO
conversion project being delivered
from the Aberdeen design office,
Engineering Manager John Gage
says the team’s 2013 milestones
were the conclusion of the project’s
Strategic Project Delivery Objectives
(SPDOs) and the successful
completion of workshare with
Jakarta and Darlington. Both were
achieved in the third quarter.
John commented: “The development
of the SPDOs enabled us to focus
on what we needed to do for the
customer, and, in monthly reviews,
to check how we were doing and
take remedial action to stay on
course. The AMEC Way provides a
consistent way of doing things – this
facilitated workshare using the same
systems and processes in both
Jakarta and Darlington.”
On another project, the Roy Hill
mining engineering contract in
Australia, the AMEC Way has been
beneficial, says Paul Hewitt, Project
Director. “Engineering began in
April but even before that, the AMEC
Way had an influence on the way we
undertook risk profiling and project
categorisation. When work began,
we implemented the PMP volumes
and PIFs. The standardisation gives
transparency, allowing everyone to
understand where the project is at.”
Did you
know?
AMEC’s Chief
Executive Samir
Brikho was
recently elected a
Fellow of the UK’s
Royal Academy of
Engineering.
// 35
Improving
Improving
AMEC Way highlights of the year include:
1
Convero: By the end of 2013 the functionality of classic Convero was
transferred onto the latest technology platform providing a better user
experience and providing the basis for further integration with other global
systems, such as Microsoft Dynamics AX*, planned for 2014.
Deployment of integrated DM / DC: The in-house developed Document
Management / Document Control solution utilising Convero and the
SharePoint based Engineering Workspace has now been rolled out on a
number of projects across the businesses and is available for general use.
3
Improvement programme for the APDMS: The AMEC Project Delivery
Management System (APDMS) has been in use across the businesses
during 2013 and feedback through user experience is enabling the
associated procedures, instructions and forms to be improved to add
greater value to the projects going forward.
AMEC Way Project Delivery programme: Around 100 participants including
senior project and operations management have now attended the AMEC Way
Project Delivery programme delivered through the AMEC Academy in the UK
and North America. Demand for the programme is increasing and plans are in
place for further deliveries during 2014 across the globe.
5
* Read more about
MDAX on page 39
36 \\
2
4
Self-assessment tool: The businesses have embraced self-assessments
to measure progress. It has led to a better understanding of the AMEC Way,
and engendered greater ownership and commitment to implement
it and improve it.
Paul continues: “Implementation of
Convero and document management
has enabled us to know where to
focus our attention going forward.
Workshare with the Shanghai design
office, using common standards, has
helped us to keeping staffing levels at
an economic level here. The AMEC
Way has provided us with effective
management tools to ensure we are
on the best path forward.”
Self assessment
Measuring progress is essential in
any programme. The PDLT drew on
best practice from our HSSE function
to produce a self assessment tool
that provided an insight into the
requirements of the AMEC Way, and
that could be used by the businesses
to monitor themselves against the six
elements of the Project Delivery policy.
AMEC partners with the Heritage
Homes Orphanage
In March 2013, the AMEC Nigeria
Charity Committee visited the
Heritage Home in Lagos which
saves lives of orphaned and
abandoned children and immediately
decided to help – they raised over
300,000 Naira (over £1,000) which
covered repairs and maintenance of
the desperately needed generator.
Europe Technical Director Jim
Lenton says: “The AMEC Way aims to
bring consistent delivery quality to
our businesses and geographies
whilst not stifling local innovation and
initiative; and I have to make sure we
align what is happening here in
Europe with the global AMEC Way.
The quarterly self assessment, which
each operating unit fills in, has been
very useful because it has brought
focus where focus was lacking and it
has helped demystify what AMEC
Way is all about. It allows us to
identify areas to improve and put in
place transition plans in a reasonable
time frame. The next step with self
assessment in Europe is to make
sure we are learning and improving
our scores while accepting to some
degree that the operating units are
moving at different speeds because
of the differences in their sectors.”
Kevin Gierc, Director in PPA adds:
“There were initial challenges to get
the self assessment right for all parts
of PPA given the variety and scale of
projects we perform. We’ve driven
the tool down into each region and
are now using it to help target the
next stages of implementation. We
are also using the tool to benchmark
our performance and identify a few
areas such as ‘continuous learning’
that require attention across our
organisation. Finally, the tool has
helped establish a few common
process challenges that extend to
other parts of the business where,
through collaboration, we’ve been
able to improve global processes
for AMEC.”
From left to right:
Grant Ling, Group
Financial Controller
and Bob Carter,
President of
Investment Services
(IS). IS manages
residual liabilities
and claims from
our non-core and
divested businesses,
aiming to protect
AMEC’s reputation
and where possible,
realise value and
cash. Managed
assets include
Incheon Bridge,
Korea; a large
shopping mall in
Germany; and a wind
farm development on
the Isle of Lewis, UK
// 37
Improving
Improving
From the beginning I sought
out opportunities for advancement
- everyone has to recognise the
importance of their own personal
role in achieving their goals.”
Kristin Kowalski
Hiring for growth and success
Our success depends on the skills and talents
of our people. ‘Why AMEC’ is AMEC’s employer
brand and represents the reasons why people
come to work for AMEC and why they stay opportunity, excellence and belonging.
Dalys Buck, Project / Mechanical Engineer,
Saskatoon, SK, Canada, believes that
AMEC has provided him with numerous
opportunities to develop new skills and
capitalise on his strengths and talents.
“This has given me a sense of identity and
purpose within the company, contributing
to my engagement and motivation for
further success.”
Helping people in need
AMEC again pulled together to
help people struck by the natural
disaster in The Philippines and
the crisis in Syria. Within two
weeks we raised £25,000, matched
by AMEC, to support both SOS
Children, AMEC’s strategic charity,
and Red Cross / Red Crescent.
38 \\
For Rebecca Smith, HR Adviser, Birchwood,
UK, a flexible approach to working
hours and work-life balance, as well as
opportunities to get involved with work related
to international assignments, are the most
attractive features of AMEC. “As a mother of
a two-year old, these are great advantages
which I have not been able to acquire
anywhere else.”
Juan Calero, Assistant Consultant, London,
UK, acquired his Master’s Degree in Spain
and in the UK and joined AMEC straight from
university. “The offer was very interesting
– I work with European legislation and
government agencies as well as private
clients on several projects. AMEC is a great
company to work for. It has a lot of clients
worldwide and I like the opportunity to
collaborate with other parts of AMEC, so I
would not mind working on an international
project and travelling around. When I joined,
people were very helpful and welcoming, not
only my team, but people in other offices.”
“First I was offered work on the Quechua
project,” shares Liliana Arriagada, Project
Manager, Santiago, Chile. “Then AMEC offered
me the Mechanical Discipline Manager role
which I took, and after that new opportunities
came. In 2010, AMEC in Chile started to work
on the Kearl project in Canada. I was put in
Belonging
Opportunity
AMEC
values
Excellence
charge of a team that was sent to Canada
and that’s how our workshare with AMEC in
Calgary began. The client trusted us and later
I was offered to lead the Kearl project in Chile.
AMEC definitely generates opportunities and
believes in the potential of its people.”
“I went to a school career fair in Florida, met
an AMEC representative, was invited for an
interview in Atlanta and accepted the position,”
shares Lauren Raiola, Engineer Level 2,
Atlanta, GA, US. “I joined because AMEC is
a global company and if you want, it offers
opportunities to work in other places and
develop yourself. So far, I have started some of
the management training as part of my career
path. I discussed with my manager I wanted to
be a lead in my department and I have co-led
a project with a lead structural engineer. I have
learned a lot from this experience. It is great
to be able to communicate with my manager
and see it followed through.”
After a year in Supply Chain Management,
Kristin Kowalski, Saskatoon-based Project
Controller, applied for a Junior Project
Controller role on a large potash expansion
project and was selected. Later she was offered
a full time assignment on site. “Since then, I
have grown significantly in my skill sets and
in 2012, I became Cost Lead for the PCS
Rocanville West Project.”
Transforming the way we
do things
Not only are we transforming the way we
hire new people, we are also transforming the
way we work, becoming more efficient. MDAX
(Microsoft Dynamics AX) is an investment in
AMEC’s future. As part of this project, we will
transition more than 30 finance, HR and
project management systems into one
integrated global application – MDAX.
This will change how we work, enhancing
collaboration, improving our business
processes and supporting growth.
As Maureen Marken, Vice President and
Head of Enterprise Programme, Atlanta, GA,
US, explains: “It is fair to say that in the past
not everything has gone to plan with MDAX
but in 2013 the deployment progressed as
we implemented the learning from the initial
roll out in Europe. We have more to do, but
the shift in ownership to the businesses is
a fundamental step in the right direction.
We now have committed teams across the
businesses and IT working together to
prepare for deploying MDAX in the next
phases of this significant business change
programme, as we work to align our
processes, our data, and our functional
capabilities across AMEC.”
// 39
Growing
Growing
g
n
i
w
o
r
G
Sustainably delivering
excellence
Growth is an integral part of AMEC’s ‘2015 and beyond’ strategy.
We want to grow in all four of our markets and expand our geographic
footprint, particularly in Growth Regions. We also want to grow our
skills, capabilities and our customer base.
Growing into and with AMEC
qedi is a specialist technology-driven,
safety and integrity focused service
company. In the last 20 years qedi
has developed as an acclaimed
global leading provider of technology
and technical human expertise in
the area of completions and
commissioning services.
During 2013, AMEC Larastia’s
Kuala Lumpur office was awarded
a five-year contract for project
management services in greenfield,
brownfield and rejuvenation projects
for Petronas Carigali Malaysia.
Photo from left to right: Willy Wiyatno,
Director of AMEC Berca Indonesia;
Iain Hill, PMC Project Engineer; and
Donald MacLeod, Chief Operating
Officer AMEC Larastia, Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia
40 \\
“Even prior to being part of AMEC,
we were growing but it was getting
to the stage where we were bringing
in more work than we could safely
handle; we didn’t really have any
backup behind it. The acquisition
by AMEC gave us that much needed
backing which we can now leverage.
We are moving to other places
where AMEC is present - we can use
it as a starting point and build upon
it,” comments Graham Deans,
Technical Delivery Manager, qedi,
Aberdeen, UK.
Graham explains that there are many
opportunities which can be turned
into new business: “Traditionally we
have been in the EMEA region and in
the US but we’re picking up other
projects in Canada and Australia.
Business development happens
mainly by word of mouth and we have
had many success stories. Importantly,
other AMEC businesses now include
qedi in certain bids, which further
opens doors for us.”
In the last year AMEC has grown
in lots of really positive ways. We have
added new customers, and grown work
with existing ones. We’ve grown in
capability, working together across our
operations and I’ve also seen many of you
grow and develop, both as individuals,
and as teams. I look forward to 2014
as the year that this teamwork and
customer focus delivers our Vision 2015.”
John Pearson, Group President, Europe
// 41
Growing
Growing
We started with 20 people and we have grown to
around 50. The job gave us credibility so we can now show
the client what great engineers we have.” Tom Mathie
Graham continues:“qedi has
predominantly operated in the oil &
gas market. But now we’re talking to
our first mining project in Canada, to
Clean Energy in the UK regarding our
move into the nuclear sector and also
to the Asset Management group.
We are slowly getting penetration
throughout the rest of AMEC. There
were fears when we were acquired
that we wouldn’t be as dynamic as
we used to be. That’s not been the
case at all.”
Did you
know?
AMEC scooped
the ‘People
Development‘
award in the
2013 Oil & Gas
UK Awards.
This award
recognises the
outstanding
commitment
made by an
organisation in
developing its
most important
asset - its
people.
42 \\
Helping the client by providing
expertise
The AMEC Larastia JV between
Kuala Lumpur-based Larastia and
AMEC was established in May 2012
and predominantly focuses on the
Malaysian oil & gas market. In
September 2013, the JV was
awarded its first major PMC (Project
Management Consultancy) greenfield
development contract as part of a
five-year umbrella agreement with
Petronas. “It’s what you call a flare
field which doesn’t shut down,
producing only a minimum amount of
gas until when it’s required, it clicks
into full production,” explains the JV’s
Head of Engineering, Tom Mathie.
“Petronas must meet certain gas
requirements and should any of
their platforms shut down, they could
be fined.
“The project consists of two phases.
We are in the first phase which should
go through to March 2014; if we get
the second phase, it will run for at
least 18 months.” Tom says that the
client is happy with our performance:
“We are delivering and the client
is satisfied. We’re reviewing the
documents of the companies carrying
out engineering, making sure they
comply with Petronas’ technical
standards and national standards.
In addition, we’re identifying key
technical issues, so the client can
see the benefits of using AMEC.”
“This work has also opened our eyes
to the employment culture in Malaysia
which is very different from the UK,
for example. We’ve gained experience
of how to work with this culture and
how to employ people.”
Expanding our customer base
RHi (Rider Hunt International),
acquired by AMEC in 2008, provides
project services, specialist manpower
and systems to the oil & gas and
energy markets.
“2013 has been a year of
strengthening the existing client base,
as well as forging relationships with
new customers,” says Jeff Harrison,
Managing Director, RHi Group,
Guildford, UK. RHi has been involved
with several major international oil
& gas projects including Kearl in
Canada, Clair Ridge in the UK and
Gorgon, in Korea. “We have been
providing services either as part of
AMEC’s scope of delivery or directly
to International Oil Companies.
Nuclear Management
Partners, a consortium
of AMEC, URS and
AREVA, was awarded
a five-year contract
extension by the UK’s
NDA for its work on
the Sellafield site. This
is one of the world’s
most complex and
challenging nuclear
sites and the focus is
now on accelerating
the clean-up of the
high hazard legacy
ponds and silos
Tom believes this project will bring
a lot of public exposure for Petronas,
so our excellent delivery will be
important in terms of future
relationships. “We know there are
future opportunities with Petronas.
Malaysia has a lot of oil & gas assets,
just short of 200, and they are over 25
years old. I believe this contract can
show the client what we can do and
what benefits we can bring.
// 43
Growing
Growing
Oil & Gas
Jeff continues:“In 2014, we’re
looking to expand our footprint in
the Middle East, in particular with
National Oil Companies.”
Delivering the most complex
nuclear programme in Europe
NMP (Nuclear Management
Partners), comprising AMEC, URS of
America and AREVA of France, first
won a contract for the clean up of
the Sellafield UK site from the
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
(NDA) in 2008. The contract was
recently renewed for the second
five-year term, commencing in
April 2014. Martin Wenban, Vice
President, Strategic Programmes,
Nuclear, Knutsford, UK, reflects on
the achievements: “I would like to
highlight three major successes.
Firstly, Sellafield now has the best
safety record in its history – and
by halving the LTI rate we have
brought Sellafield close to WANO’s
(World Association of Nuclear
Operators) world-class average.
Secondly, we have delivered over
£650 million worth of efficiency
savings to the British taxpayer
compared with the plan we inherited.
Finally, we have invested £22.5 million
out of our own fee over five years into
local socio-economic, education and
job creation projects. We are very
proud of these, but mindful that more
must be done to deliver even greater
value for money to the NDA and this
is our priority focus.
“Sellafield is the single largest
and most complex nucleardecommissioning programme
in Europe. The project presents
a mixture of operational,
decommissioning and wastemanagement challenges from many
legacy issues of the 1950s and 60s
where most of the complications
have arisen. AMEC and its partners
are rising to this challenge, with a
refreshed team of specialists and
managers in place for the next
five-year term.”
We’ve achieved a lot at Sellafield but, clearly, there is more
to be done to see a rapid acceleration of the decommissioning
programmes. We recognise we need to bring even more skills
and expertise from the wider AMEC business to the second
term of this contract.” Martin Wenban
44 \\
The oil & gas market contributes about half of AMEC’s revenues and
has been growing well. There continues to be a lot of activity in the UK
North Sea, with our brownfield business particularly strong, and we
have also won some good contracts in the Middle East.
CNRL – delivering excellence
over the years
Our work for CNRL goes back about
eight years when we were working
on their extraction projects. Eighteen
months ago the client came back and
awarded us additional work. “That’s
when I got involved,” says Brent
English, Workshare Project Manager,
Calgary, AB, Canada. “I was managing
a part of the work between Calgary
and Santiago.
“The relationship with the client
has been really good - hence we
were awarded a froth treatment
expansion project. We took over
detail design work from a previous
contractor the client wasn’t very
happy with,” explains Brent.
“Working for CNRL allows us to
maintain the majority of the existing
front end project work in oil sands.”
ConocoPhillips
announced first gas
production from the
Jasmine field in the
Central North Sea
in November 2013.
AMEC provided
engineering &
procurement services
on the existing Judy
platform and hook-up
and commissioning
of new Jasmine
facilities. Photo
provided by
Cyberhawk
// 45
Growing
Growing
This is Talisman’s biggest project
worldwide; we want to do well and grow
the business with them.” Mitch Crichton
And the biggest challenge of the froth
project? “Validating what the previous
contractor had done. In some cases,
we had to sort of backward engineer
our way to already fabricated
equipment as the previous contractor
information was not always available.
However, we have a strong team
and the client recently agreed to
use our Santiago office for isometric
production, as our past workshares
were very successful.”
Talisman – forming a long-term
strategic relationship
About two years ago, Talisman
decided to tender both a five-year
framework agreement and the
Montrose BLP Brownfield contract,
to a maximum of two contractors.
Through a rigorous clarification
process, AMEC was awarded both.
The work on the Montrose contract
will be completed in 2016 while the
framework agreement has a twoyear option expansion, so it could
potentially last until 2020.
“We worked with Talisman several
years ago, so it was positive to get the
relationship back. We have had a great
safety performance, applauded by the
client,” says Mitch Crichton, Project
Manager, Aberdeen, UK, proudly. “At
the moment, there are just over 100
46 \\
people onshore and 50 people
offshore on the project and we’re still
due to grow further. This is a very
strategic and high profile project for
Talisman and we play an important
part. We have to deliver in line with
their expectations and aspirations.
“We are looking at some workshare
and collaboration with offices
elsewhere in AMEC, in particular in
Jakarta. We’ve built a great team,
with a good mix of existing and new
people. Currently, we have about
eight graduates and three or four
trainees. We’re doing a lot of
behavioural coaching to maintain our
excellent safety performance and to
reinforce the right culture that will
help us deliver projects safely
and successfully.”
BP – growing into large projects
Over the years, AMEC has grown
remarkably in Azerbaijan. “14 years
ago, we had a shop window with two
or three people bidding very small
projects – and now, we are a tier 1
provider of engineering, project
management, construction
management for brownfield and
greenfield projects. And then we
entered into a consortium with
Turkish Tefken and Azeri Azfen
(ATA),” shares Martyn Trench, ATA
Consortium Senior Construction
Manager, Baku, Azerbaijan.
“ATA has gained a hard-won
track record of asset development,
management, conceptual and detail
design procurement, construction
management, onshore and offshore
completion. As part of ATA we
undertook work on three major decks
for the Central Azeri Compression
and Water Injection Platform (C&WP),
Process, Compression, Water Utility
(PCWU) and Chirag Oil Project – West
Chirag (COP – WC).”
On the COP project, ATA developed the
site, hired and trained new people and
built a new fabrication shop; and for
From left to right:
Carend-Joy Koop,
SmartPlant Review
and Engineering
Licensing
Administrator;
Courtenay Pearson,
PDS Administrator;
and David Chauncey,
Frameworks
Specialist, working in
our Oil & Gas Canada
office, Calgary, AB,
Canada
Supporting Movember
AMEC offices around the world
have been raising awareness of
men’s health issues through
their participation in Movember
for the past two years! In 2013,
22 AMEC teams worldwide raised
almost US$50,000.
// 47
Growing
Growing
“Kuwait is a good hub for travelling
all over the world; you can be in India,
Thailand, Africa in a few hours. Also,
families are enjoying it and schooling
is great – we have people from Canada,
the US, UK, Korea here, for example.
I have been an ex-pat all my working
life, living and working in about 29
countries.”
From left to right:
John Hunter
Wilson, Mechanical
Engineer; Peter Park,
Structural Engineer;
Ranbir Ghatoura,
Mechanical Engineer;
and Ben Davies,
Mechanical Engineer,
working in oil & gas,
London, UK
the first time, the primary steelwork
and the exotic material pipe spools
were all fabricated in-country on the
ATA facility. “And in September 2013,
we celebrated the completion of the
project with the sail-away of the
largest COP topsides ever built
in Baku,” continues Martyn.
“The conditions for this particular
project were not always ideal and we
had to cope with severe winters and
very hot summers, but we delivered
successfully. In addition, we have
achieved over 20 million* man-hours
LTI free. And, we are bidding a
follow-on contract at the moment,”
concludes Martyn.
KNPC – creating a multi-national
team on the project
Gerry Baker, Project Director, finds
Kuwait a great place to live and work.
48 \\
Gerry leads the KNPC** new refinery
project, where we provide project
management consultancy, managing
the award and oversight of the
contract packages. “We administer
those contracts to ensure technical
compliance and delivery of EPC
(Engineer, Procure, Construct) and
we also help with commissioning,”
explains Gerry.
“We have done a thorough review
of the tender packages for EPC
contracts and came up with a
method to enhance the package. The
client actually commented that they
could really see the value AMEC and
our approach is bringing. We work
closely with our people in London –
that’s our engineering hub. Project
and construction management,
commercial, contract management
and some of the engineering strategy
are done in Kuwait. In addition, we
have technical editors in Calgary,
AB, Canada, working with us and we
are looking at utilising both Houston,
* Read more about this achievement on page 26 ** Read more about KNPC on page 9
TX, US and Calgary for computer
engineering systems. And recently,
we have got an agreement from
the client to use qedi* and their
GoTechnology®. Our geotechnical
person is from E&I in the US, so you
can see, we work across the whole
of AMEC.
“Our previous PMC work for KOC
(Kuwait Oil Corporation), a sister
company to KNPC, helped us to win
this contract; reputation is a strong
driver. This is one of the largest oil
refineries in the world to be built,
worth $15 billion, with 610,000
barrels a day of refining capacity.”
Enel – providing quality
and experience
There are several reasons why the
upstream division of Enel concluded
a Master Service Agreement (MSA)
with AMEC. The MSA covers support
for oil & gas, offshore and onshore
environmental procedures and
well pad engineering in Italy. Our
assistance should lead to Enel getting
a permit for new exploration and
production wells.
experience in oil & gas and permitting
services. “There were about 35
competitors pursuing this bid and
we won. It helped that we are an
international provider and work
for ExxonMobil and ENI in Italy. It
was helpful to have been able to
collaborate with other offices in
the US, UK and Canada.
“Enel is the largest producer of
electricity in Italy and has a lot of sites
in Italy and elsewhere. It also has a
nuclear division and is currently trying
to diversify its business, so Enel needs
a provider like us that can assist them
worldwide,” concludes Rudi.
Based on our excellent delivery, we
have recently won another big MSA,
this time with our existing client, ENI,
the fifth largest oil & gas company in
the world.
Sail-away of the
latest Chirag
Oil Project
(COP) topsides
for Azerbaijan
International Oil
Company. This was
part of the fourth
phase of the AzeriChirag-Gunashli
(ACG) development
operated by BP, on
behalf of AIOC, in the
Azerbaijan sector
of the Caspian Sea.
AMEC’s Baku office
provided the project
and construction
management for this
- the largest offshore
structure built in
Baku with a load-out
weight in excess of
20,000 tonnes
Rudi Ruggeri, Managing Director,
Milan, Italy, is convinced that Enel
chose AMEC due to the quality of our
proposal package and extensive
* Read more about qedi on page 41
// 49
Growing
Growing
Environment & Infrastructure
We delivered this project ahead of time
because of close cooperation and regular
communication with the client.”
James Frifeldt
We provide E&I services across all of our markets including oil & gas
(see page 49). The E&I market itself has been strong in 2013, particularly
in our industrial and transportation sectors.
Charlotte Knights – assisting the
client every step of the way
We work for many different
customers, coming from all walks of
life. The Charlotte Knights, a minor
league baseball team, engaged us
on their new uptown stadium in
Charlotte, NC, US. We previously
explored this particular site in 2000
for a potential basketball arena which
never came to be. Later, the
requirements changed, and due to
our excellent past work, we were the
obvious choice to help the Knights.
“On this project, we used some of
our traditional services, such
as geotechnical exploration,
environmental due diligence work,
project design and then, during
construction, we provided all
inspection and testing associated
On a project like this, we always look for
solutions. Some tend to look for problems and
leave the client with them. We go out of our way to
anticipate and develop solutions to various problems,
so there is no lost time and the project is completed
successfully.” Rob Smith
50 \\
Vanessa Cottle,
Water Resources
Specialist (with
her local guide)
performing
environmental
services on La Granja
Exploration Project
in the Cajamarca
Region, Peru for
our client Rio Tinto
Minera Peru
with the project,” describes Rob
Smith, Chief Engineer, Charlotte, NC,
US. “Our work is essentially complete
and the client was really happy. There
is potentially further work on the site
– the client wants to build a hotel and
office building beyond the outfield,
and they need the same services, so
we have submitted a proposal for that
piece of work.
“Everything went relatively smoothly
and I believe it’s due to the team we
put together. I used some senior
technicians to do all the field testing
and inspection; we regularly checked
that everything was going the way it
should be; and I talked to the client
regularly. Things usually stay on track
when everyone knows what’s going on.”
National Park Service – delivering
critical repairs for the community
Sometimes we work in the most
unusual and challenging places, such
as when providing critical repairs
to the Kalaupapa dock structures
on the island of Moloka’i, HI, US.
“Kalaupapa is an isolated peninsula
with a community established in the
1800s for people with leprosy,”
explains James Frifeldt, Associate
Construction Manager, Honolulu.
AMEC provided a
variety of construction
services for the new
Charlotte Knights
ballpark including:
environmental,
geotechnical
engineering, and
materials testing and
special inspections.
Photo from left to
right: Wendy Bruss,
Senior Engineer;
Shirshant Sharma,
Senior Engineer; and
John Metcalf, Technical
Professional, at the
Charlotte Knights
ballpark site, Charlotte,
NC, US
// 51
Growing
AMEC is providing
design services to
improve the Morpeth
sewage treatment
works as part of a
10-year framework
agreement with
Northumbrian Water
Limited. Photo
from left to right:
Louise Purdy, Civil
Engineer and Colin
Nash, Engineering
and Construction
Contract Site
Supervisor,
Morpeth, UK
Growing
“The dock structures are extremely
important because all supplies are
delivered by boat to the island only
once a year, so without them the
community wouldn’t survive.”
We were awarded this project by
National Park Service and had one
year to complete it. This project saw
the collaboration of seven US-based
AMEC offices that were helping with
different aspects. “It was challenging
to bring equipment and materials as
there’s no other way to get there but
by plane or boat. And there are no
roads there! The environmental
component was also very sensitive –
we couldn’t disturb anything and had
to video everything before and after.”
Kahramaa – using past
experience to our advantage
In Qatar, our E&I team is working
with local utility supplier Kahramaa
to use Aquifer Storage and Recovery
(ASR) technology to improve water
security and fulfil some of the
Qatar’s ambitions for agricultural
sustainability and food security. ASR is
the storage of water in underground
aquifers during times when it is
available and its recovery from the
aquifer when needed. “This is a new
client and interestingly enough, we
were invited to bid for this project due
to the work conducted 20 years ago
by Entec, a company AMEC acquired
in 2010. So this is a great example
how a previous high-quality project is
helping us now,” explains Rik Ingram,
Principal Consultant Hydrogeologist,
Doha, Qatar. E&I offices in the US and
UK are collaborating to complete this
work in the first quarter of 2015.
“The customer is pleased as we bring
a lot of expertise of ASR technology, in
particular from Florida which is
hydrologically and geologically similar
to Qatar. In addition, we’ve introduced
Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
technology to process, manipulate and
store data in new ways. And we’ve been
successful when presenting data and
maps to the client – here we rely on
expertise from the UK, where our
people use GIS regularly for ground
water projects.”
Protecting the US President
When President Obama was
inaugurated in January 2013, our
Emergency Management group was
on the scene, or rather behind the
scenes and across the Potomac
River at the District of Columbia
Emergency Operations Centre.
52 \\
Participating in the 2nd annual
Corporate Challenge, employees in
Saskatoon, SK, Canada, joined
20 other corporations and
businesses to promote ‘a
healthy, team oriented business
community through friendly
competition while helping raise
awareness and contributions to local
charities’. Each year the winning team
chooses which charity will benefit
from the fundraising efforts.
The chosen charity was the Ronald
McDonald House, receiving over
CDN$25,000.
“The command centre takes up a
whole city block,” describes Clay
Pacheco, Sr. Emergency Manager,
Jacksonville, FL, US. “We had to work
with officials from the DC Homeland
Security / Emergency Management
Agency, FEMA, US Capitol Police,
US Secret Service and local police
and fire departments.” In addition
to monitoring potential threats and
weather events during the
inauguration, Clay’s team conducted
extensive incident management team
training and preparedness exercises
for the agency. “We really challenged
the local emergency management staff
– they considered our input and came
prepared for the inauguration week.”
// 53
Growing
Growing
Mining
The ability to source a strong team
from throughout AMEC has been one of
our advantages.” Kevin Brown
“As CGNPC was not involved in the
development of feasibility studies, a
lot of decisions were re-questioned,
so the project has been challenging.
There has been a significant downturn in the mining market, as commodity
prices have weakened and our customers have reassessed their capital
expenditure plans. Our business has not been immune, but we have
been able to improve our positioning and win some interesting new
pieces of work.
During 2013 our
Shanghai and
Vancouver offices
collaborated on
the next stage of
our work, providing
feasibility and
design services for
the underground
mine at the Oyu
Tolgoi copper-gold
mining project in
Mongolia. Photo
shows work being
done underground
in the Oyu Tolgoi
mine
54 \\
Swakop Uranium – introducing the
AMEC Way for success
On the Husab project we are
responsible for engineering,
procurement and construction
management (EPCM) on a uranium
mine and plant in Namibia, Africa, as
part of a joint venture with Tenova
Bateman. Our client is Swakop
Uranium, part of Guangdong Nuclear
Power Company (CGNPC). CGNPC is
the largest nuclear power company
in China and they purchased the
project to secure uranium for the
nuclear power stations they are
building in China. This is a typical fast
track project where we are dealing
with engineering and construction
simultaneously. The entire project
should be finished by late 2015.
“The project actually originated in our
Perth office, where the initial study
had been done, and then it was
moved to Johannesburg,” explains
Johannesburg-based Gavin
Chamberlain, Project Director.
“The biggest challenge, however, is
the cultural difference in terms of the
way business is traditionally done in
the African market versus the way it’s
done in the Chinese market. We have
been aligning project management
procedures as well as getting used
to the hierarchical structure of the
client. We have now reached an
understanding between the parties
to ensure we deliver on the project.
together. In addition, this is the first
execution project that this office
has pulled off – before, we had done
only studies. And in terms of our
performance, we have been very
successful; we have achieved over
2 million man-hours LTI free. We
are also following the AMEC Way of
project delivery but had to simplify
some procedures so that everybody
on the project can access those – that
truly helped with excellent execution.”
These enhancements, developed by
new and ‘real’ users, are supported
by the AMEC Way PDLT.
AMEC is providing
project management
services for the full
scope of facilities on
the Legacy Potash
project for K + S. This
is Saskatchewan’s
first new potash
mine in nearly 40
years and production
will commence in
2016. Photo shows
winter construction
at the Legacy site
“And, yes, we have had some issues
but the collaboration within AMEC
has helped us get over it. One of
the challenges was that the
Johannesburg office had never
executed a project in Convero as
part of the AMEC Way. So we needed
support on that and right now there
are a few Canadians and Australians
working with us.
“This is a strategic project as we’re
selling the wider AMEC to the local
market. We’re selling the model that
relies on inter-office working
// 55
Growing
Growing
K + S – aligning with the client
for success
For Kevin Brown, Senior Project
Director, Saskatoon, SK, Canada, the key
to success on the Legacy project so far
has been streamlining our execution
strategy with the client, the German
company K + S. K + S, the largest salt
producer in the world and the fourth
largest producer of potash, is a new
customer. Their potash mine, where we
provide EPCM (Engineering, Procurement,
Construction Management) services, is
located in Saskatchewan, Canada, and
should go into production in 2016. “We
had to reach alignment with the client
and now the relationship is really
strong,” shares Kevin. “In October, we
presented the outcomes of a value
engineering phase aimed at optimising
Build a Bike, Connect a Family
Volunteers from our Calgary office
in Canada and Cardel Homes built
55 new bikes for local children.
17 reconditioned bikes were also
presented to adults and
guardians, along with bike
helmets for all. Since 2011, ‘Build
a Bike, Connect a Family’ has
promoted connections and active
lifestyles for less-fortunate families.
56 \\
the scope and cost, and we got very
positive feedback from K + S.
“This project is a solution mining project,
which is very rare. It is not conventional
underground mining; potash is mined by
pumping water and brine into caverns
and dissolving the potash which is then
pumped up to the surface in solution.
And this is the first solution mining
project, and the first greenfield potash
mine of any kind, in this part of the world
in 40 years.
“We enjoy quite a diverse team – we’ve
got people here from AMEC in Canada,
the US, Peru and the UK. In particular,
our Canadian oil sands unit provided
us with some of their strongest resources
in project controls and estimating,”
concludes Kevin.
ArcelorMittal – strengthening our
experience in Africa
In 2010, ArcelorMittal Liberia (AML)
engaged us to do a feasibility study for
the Western Range Iron Ore project in
Liberia, Africa. Since then, we have been
working in two major areas: the Port of
Buchannan where iron ore is loaded
onto ships and shipped to the market;
and the concentrator plant where the
mine is located, about 230km from the
port. This is the first project that AML is
building from scratch.
Raj Punn, Project Manager, Oakville,
ON, Canada, believes that this project
is one of the client’s flagship projects
as they make a difference in the
country. “Liberia went through a
14-year civil war; it has just come
out of that during the past eight
years. The client has a commitment
to the government to build hospitals,
schools, and improve infrastructure.
AML is bringing value to the country
by hiring the locals, training them and
providing education.
“AML appreciates the value we’re
bringing to the project. For example,
we’re using a 3D engineering model,
which means that the client can
virtually walk through the plant.
We are using workshare – that’s
one of the great things at AMEC.
Engineering is managed from
Oakville and we also involved our
marine division in Vancouver. In
addition, we have just hit 4 million
man-hours LTI free, which is a
fantastic achievement in Africa.”
Raj also adds: “This project doesn’t
have a traditional management
structure. About a year ago, an
integrated project delivery team was
created and this team comprises
AMEC as well as AML people. This
means we’ve been able to integrate
the two companies and align the
goals of the project better.”
We will be putting this project on AMEC’s
resumé - a lot of clients want companies with African
experience, working in a low-cost environment and
specific economic conditions.” Raj Punn
Terra Nova
Technologies (TNT),
an AMEC subsidiary,
provided design,
equipment supply
and construction
services for the
Solomon mine, a part
of Fortescue Metals’
major expansion in
Western Australia’s
Pilbara Region. A
three-hub strategy
has been used, by
creating three major
iron ore operations in
close proximity and
using centralised
infrastructure.
Photo shows an
erection of 167 tonne
10x11x14m modular
transfer tower that
was fabricated and
then completely
preassembled offsite
in Thailand and
shipped to site as
shown
// 57
Growing
Growing
Clean Energy
“In addition, our team also received
an HSSE award for excellence. The
client is very happy and the plant has
been operating well and reliably.”
In recent months we have seen significant growth in our renewables
business in Americas, particularly new solar projects. In Europe, the
clean-up contract on the Sellafield site was renewed for a further five
years and progress was made on the UK’s nuclear new build programme.
AMEC was
awarded a major
environmental
impact assessment
by the Nuclear
Energy Company
of Slovakia (JESS)
for a new 1,000MW
nuclear power
station at Bohunice in
Slovakia. The photo
shows the existing
nuclear power
station in Slovakia
where the new one
will be also located
58 \\
Energy Source – winning repeat
work based on excellent execution
We completed Energy Source’s
Hudson Ranch Power I project
successfully in 2012 and subsequently
were awarded preliminary design and
engineering work on Hudson Ranch II.
The work for Energy Source was first
executed from our Phoenix, AZ, US,
office and then it was moved to
Atlanta, GA, US.
“Hudson Ranch is a relatively new
company, established in 2006-2007
to develop geothermal resources in
the Imperial Valley, California, US.
On the Hudson Ranch I project
we performed the work on time
and budget. The project received
numerous awards, such as the
Environmental Stewardship
Award and it was also named the
Geothermal Project of the Year in
2012,” says Atlanta-based Jeff
Swoope, Senior Project Manager.
Tarek Tawfik, Process Lead Engineer
on the project, adds some technical
details about the plant: “This is
actually the first geothermal plant
that AMEC has worked on. The
source of the geothermal brine is
underground reservoirs and these
are about 7,500-9,000 feet deep,
titanium lined – you know, just the
fact that you’re getting 500 degree
steam and water out of the earth is
kind of unique. The earth basically
functions as a boiler.”
Jeff believes that the project
was also successful due to regular
communication and collaboration
with the client and suppliers.
“We did online reviews with
everybody to actually see what
the plant will look like when built.
We published the model weekly
and everyone had access to it. We
spent a lot of time in weekly review
meetings. And we used other AMEC
offices to help us on the project,
namely Greenville, SC, US and
Vancouver, BC, Canada.”
EDF – improving and growing
nuclear assets
One of the ways in which we support
EDF is on the UK’s existing nuclear
reactor fleet where our key focus
is to maximise its lifetime. “We’ve
helped increase the fleet generation
output and we will continue to do
that,” explains Darren Dudley,
Business Unit Director, Knutsford,
UK. “We have also improved plant
and equipment performance by
reducing unplanned losses, reducing
unplanned reactor trips. We continue
to develop our relationships with
EDF and we’re seeing customers
now starting to look at lifetime
contracts which would cover the
remaining generation life of the
fleet. This way we’ll be able to
demonstrate a long-term
commitment to the client.
We would like
to welcome our
new colleagues
from Automated
Engineering Services
Corp. (AES). Photo
shows AMEC AES
closing ceremony.
From left to right:
Curtis Warchol,
AES Vice President
Engineering; Tim
Gelbar, AMEC
PPA President;
Achyut Setlur, AES
President; Phil
Barnes, AMEC PPA
CFO and Thomas
Vogel, AES Vice
President Projects
// 59
Growing
Growing
We’re excited to execute a project of this size and
demonstrate to a lot of other clients what AMEC can do.”
Matt Tapp, Project Director, Atlanta, GA, US
AMEC is applying its
world leading nuclear
expertise to develop
nuclear fusion for
the future for Fusion
for Energy (F4E),
the organisation
responsible for
providing Europe’s
contribution to
the International
Thermonuclear
Experimental
Reactor (ITER) being
constructed in the
south of France.
Current projects
include work in
the areas of waste
management,
radiation mapping
and remote handling,
together with
significant contracts
in some of the most
technologically
challenging areas of
the project including
design of test blanket
modules and the
manufacturing of first
wall panels. The photo
demonstrates what
the plant site will look
like when finished
60 \\
Darren continues: “In addition, we are
enhancing our global capabilities, for
example, in 2012 we acquired Serco’s
nuclear business which we have
integrated into AMEC and in 2013 we
also acquired Automated Engineering
Services Corp., a nuclear services
firm based in the US.”
Darren believes that our innovative
technologies and collaborative
approach to the customer and
suppliers have also been key to our
success. “For example, we have
developed tools that can be deployed
into a reactor to modify its internals.
You know, we have established a truly
cutting edge technology and process
which will extend the life of power
stations. In addition, we have
introduced a very collaborative
approach when working with the
client and suppliers, which EDF
appreciates. This work is based in
the UK but we’re engaging with EDF
in France to see how we can take our
expertise from the UK and support
the huge nuclear fleet EDF has there.”
We are also supporting EDF’s new
build aspirations. Richard Cope,
Project Director, London, UK, has
more details. “Our main role is to
bring what we call ‘UK context’ to the
French design so that it meets UK
standards. The project is in the design
stage but this is a long-term contract
that could span many years to come.
It’s a strategic project as it’s the first of
what’s likely to be the next generation
of nuclear new build; in addition, it’s
important for growing our business
in France.
“The project is challenging as there
are elements regulated in France
which aren’t regulated in the UK and
vice versa. And we work with a
different business culture in France;
it’s taken us some time to understand
it and overcome language issues but
now we’re pretty well integrated.
Sempra US Gas & Power –
delivering a large solar
project successfully
Working on one of the largest solar
projects in the world could present a
few challenges. But not for AMEC,
when bidding for a solar project with
Sempra US Gas & Power which is
seven times bigger than our previous
projects. “The team got involved very
early in the process before the bid,
to think how we would go after it
AMEC helps build Centre for
Children’s Rare Disease Research
The London Focus Group raised
over £20,000 for several charities
in 2013, including one which will
help build a centre for Children’s
Rare Disease Research in the
Great Ormond Street Hospital,
London, UK.
strategically. So there was really
a strong team effort behind it,”
shares Topher Wood, Solar Projects
Business Development Manager,
Atlanta, GA, US. Topher explains
that although we were awarded the
project in July 2013, we have already
delivered the engineering; we have
received construction permits, major
equipment and materials; and we
have had very positive feedback
from the client.
“We won this project due to our
deep understanding of solar energy
and being able to optimise the plant
specifically for its performance
needs. We offered a good price
and quality. This project gives us a
competitive advantage as there are
only a few players who can now
compete with us on such a large
scale. In addition, Sempra will
continue to plan large solar and
other projects, so there’s potential
for more work.”
AMEC provided
EPC services for a
35MW Foothills solar
photovoltaic (PV)
plant in Yuma, AZ, US
as part of the Arizona
Public Service (APS)
Sun Programme.
This is the largest
APS-owned PV plant
to date and will
generate enough
energy to power
8,750 Arizona homes.
The photo shows
the onsite project
construction team
at the dedication
ceremony
“I think EDF selected us for this
particular project due to our great
track record in nuclear work in the
UK and excellent safety culture.”
// 61
Achieving
g
n
i
v
e
i
h
Ac
So
?
’ time,
s
r
a
e
g
y
in 30e collaborativning our
e
b
e
r
e
w
hi
ea
e wiloloks at how wure we are arc employeesy,
r
e
h
s
l
w
u
n
n
tion
to e
for o e compa
ublica
hoice
h
owing
This p ing and gr ployer of c stomers, t
u
v
m
c
o
e
r
r
the
imp
r ou
ice fo
: to be
goals tner of cho rs.
ar
sto
the p e for inve
c
i
of cho
“...
During 2013 AMEC plc celebrated 30 years as
a listed company. So much has changed since
the early days, as our 30+ year veterans
explain. “30 years ago we had a good business
but without direction and vision. Now we have
both - and a track record of success in our
journey,” says Dave Spencer. Steve Milligan
adds: “This multitude of companies has been
melded into a single entity, with a single vision
and common values that are consistently
implemented on a global basis.”
Back in 1982 Anne Shields remembers
running up and down corridors chasing
manual timesheets. “Now it is all completed
through our Convero systems by the press of
a button!” There has also been a significant
change in our safety culture, as Mick
Muddimer explains: “Looking back on normal
working practices then and it is amazing we
didn’t have more accidents.” Kevin Blair adds:
“AMEC is now at the forefront of safety in all
aspects of the business.”
Stephen Walden believes that AMEC is now a
truly global organisation, increasing
opportunities for travel, experience and
development, but “it still feels like a close-knit
family.” Simon Smart says: “There is
enormous opportunity now available for staff
to realise their ambitions and achieve their
career goals, which makes AMEC a very
exciting place to work.”
More collaboration and a
drive for excellence will make
AMEC a better and more
prosperous company and a
better choice for our customers.”
Tom Turner, Global IT
62 \\
“Our
be
practices will
d our
an
g
in
ad
industry le
/ HSSE track
sustainability
the
record will be
Francois
benchmark...”
Lafaix, UK
I
hope ther
e’s no
more pap
er...!”
Dee
Ann Plop
per, US
“..AMEC’s
head office w
ill most
likely be in Asi
a...”
Ken Phillips, UK
“AMEC
ining &
Asteroid M .!”
Minerals..
UK
hepherd,
Bob S
“Engineers
and designers of all
disciplines are interacting
with a live, 3-D model of the
project, communicating with each
other anywhere on the globe...”
John Loeve, Canada
“With
the advances in
be
technology we should
ter,
fas
ts
jec
able to deliver pro
k
ris
s
les
h
more accurately, wit
..”
ts.
en
cli
r
and expense to ou
Jim Zhao, Can
ada
“3-D
printers will build
parts for nuclear power
stations on site...and
telecommuting from home
“Diversified
will be widespread...”
into consultancy
Philip Davies, UK
“...a very strong
R&D
department supp
orting not only
nuclear power bu
t all forms of
sustainable ener
gy, such as
geothermal and
solar energy...”
research such as
biological and nuclear
solutions”
Danny Hope, UK
“...an
iconic leader
other compan that
ies, not just
engineering
and consultin
g,
will emulate
...” Maggie
Schneider, C
anada
Eric Scott, US
These are long-term aspirations which force us to think about the
next 30 + years. Predicting the future is difficult, so we need to create a
flexible, responsive, agile organisation that can withstand knocks and
take advantage of opportunities. That’s exciting – and that’s what will
bring long-term success for us all.” Samir Brikho
// 63
Produced by Communications
January 2014
communications@amec.com
Read more on AMECnet and amec.com
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