NEC Annual Conference & Martin Barnes Awards
Monday 16 June 2025 One Great George Street, London
You have chosen Full day, London in this United Kingdom event on 16 June 2025
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£395.00
Get this for £284.00 with Platinum/Gold Users' Group Membership
In a world of rapid change, the infrastructure and construction industry stands at a critical crossroads of major transformation. As global challenges intensify - climate change, digital transformation, supply chain volatility and the need to become more sustainable, so does the growing demand for excellence, collaboration and the ability to adapt and innovate become even greater. The industry must act now to build resilient, future-proof solutions that deliver real transformational impact.
The NEC Annual Conference brings together global leaders, pioneers and senior experts from government, academia, consultancy and NGOs. It serves as a dynamic platform where ideas are transformed into actionable strategies and solutions through collaboration.
By embracing NEC principles, we will set new benchmarks for industry excellence, harness cutting-edge technologies, transform communication for greater impact, foster meaningful collaboration, build climate resilience and drive efficiencies while managing risk effectively.
This is your opportunity to:
- Gain exclusive insights from world-class speakers and industry pioneers
- Learn from real-world case studies showcasing innovation and collaboration in action
- Engage with influential decision makers shaping the future of infrastructure and construction
- Discover strategies to future-proof your project and navigate challenges
- Expand your professional network and connect with key players in the field
Be part of the conversation. Be at the forefront of evolution. Be part of the solution to shape the next era of infrastructure and construction. Join us on 16 June 2025 to exchange ideas, form alliances and challenge traditional ways of thinking!
2025 Martin Barnes Awards
NEC is proud to present this year's annual award ceremony as part of our conference offering, celebrating excellence in project delivery and showcasing examples of best practice through collaboration from across the world. You can view details of past winners here.
Morning Plenary Sessions
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Registration and Networking
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Opening Remarks
Janet Young
Director General and Secretary, Institution of Civil Engineers -
Chair's Welcome Remarks
Matthew Garratt
Commercial Director, Dalkia, EDF Group -
Trends Shaping Our Global Industry Beyond 2025
Augusto Gutierrez
Country Director, Gleeds
Matthew Garratt (Moderator)
Commercial Director, Dalkia, EDF Group
Philippe Dessoy
President, Confederation of International, Contractors’ Associations (CICA)
Peter Higgins
Chair, NEC4 Contract Board
Chris Slocombe
Partner, Clayton Utz -
Pre-Construction Procurement Frameworks for Successful Project Delivery
Matthew Garratt (Moderator)
Commercial Director, Dalkia, EDF Group
Graham Hadfield
Commercial and Contract Management Lead – Infrastructure, Rolls Royce Submarines Limited -
Fireside Chat with Tracey Tulloch
Sharing her expertise on the evolving landscape of public procurement, commercial strategy, international development and NEC’s future engagement and community plans with its users.
Matthew Garratt (Moderator)
Commercial Director, Dalkia, EDF Group
Tracey Tulloch
Commercial Deputy Director, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office -
Updates from NEC Contract Board
Matthew Garratt (Moderator)
Commercial Director, Dalkia, EDF Group
Peter Higgins
Chair, NEC4 Contract Board
Parallel breakout sessions
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Refreshments and Networking
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Avoiding Disputes for Successful Project Outcomes
Sponsored By Pinsent Masons
Disputes can be complex, but the core principles of the contract; collaboration, fostering the right team culture, risk management, and proactive resolution; provide mechanisms to minimise conflicts and keep projects on track. However, in practice, challenges arise with early warnings, compensation events, adjudication and contract administration, making effective dispute prevention and resolution essential for all parties involved.
This session will bring together contractors, clients, legal experts and procurement professionals to explore:
Key Discussion Points:
• Common Causes of Disputes – Identifying the main triggers, including contract misinterpretation, poor communication, and delays in response.
• Early Warnings and Risk Management – Using NEC’s proactive approach to identify and mitigate risks before they escalate.
• Mitigating Risk through Dispute Boards – How does incorporating a dispute board process into NEC contracts help mitigate risks. How can dispute boards support smoother project delivery, manage client and contractor expectations and preventing delays and cost overruns?
• Compensation Events – Ensuring fair assessment and agreement of compensation events to prevent disputes over time and cost.
• Adjudication and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) – Exploring adjudication, mediation and other resolution methods under NEC contracts.
• Lessons from Real Cases – Reviewing practical examples of dispute resolution in NEC projects and key insights for improving future contracts.
• Building the Right Culture – Creating a collaborative, solutions-focused environment to prevent disputes. Exploring how transparency, trust, and proactive problem-solving can be embedded within teams, with leadership playing a key role in setting the tone for collaboration and shared responsibility.
This session will provide practical insights, expert guidance, and real-world case studies to help organisations reduce conflict, manage disputes effectively and foster collaborative working under NEC contracts.
Jonathan Cope
Director, MCMS
Claire Carr
Project Director, Costain / Skanska Costain STRABAG JV
Martin Rowark
Commercial Director, MetroLink
Charles Blamire-Brown
Partner, Pinsent Masons -
AVOIDING THE 10% AUDIT TRAP
A smarter, collaborative approach to inspecting accounts and records in NEC open book contracts
Sponsored by Orange Partnership
This interactive and practical session will explore smart, risk-based audit approaches, offer an industry-leading client perspective, and share practical data visualisations of real-world audit scenarios. All designed to provide the audience with tips and strategies to consider for their own contracts to enhance cost transparency, cost accuracy and overall efficiency, whether carrying out monthly assessments or routine cost audits.
We will cover:
• Basic expectations under NEC for cost demonstration: Sharing basic requirements from the contracts and audit protocols from managing reality.
• Risk-based versus prescriptive audit approaches: How a smarter, more forensic approach will out-perform mandated checking levels (the dreaded 10% or higher) leading to more focused assurance, uncovering more significant issues, more quickly and at a lower cost.
• The “client experience and insight”: A real-world perspective from an industry leader on common pitfalls when inspecting accounts and records and how they have seen assurance develop over the last 20 years.
• Practical examples: A demonstration of how to audit certain cost components utilising data analytics and visualisation techniques.
• Collaborative commercial team upskilling: Effective strategies to enhance client and main contractor team capabilities, ensuring stronger control of NEC contract costs.
Lisa Bee
Senior Manager, The Orange Partnership
Paul Railton
Director, The Orange Partnership
Joanna Bell
Director, The Orange Partnership
John Taylor
Director, The Orange Partnership
Graham Hadfield
Commercial and Contract Management Lead, Rolls Royce Submarines
Tom Leach
Head of Commercial Management, Southern Water
Darren Ward
Managing Director, The Orange Partnership -
Practical Implications of Operating an ECC
Engineering and Construction Contract (ECC) is widely recognised for its flexibility, collaborative approach and focus on risk management. However, as organisations navigate its real-world application, challenges often arise in areas such as contract administration, risk allocation and dispute resolution.
This session will bring together contracting authorities, contractors, legal experts and procurement specialists to discuss the key practical implications of the NEC ECC and strategies to jointly overcoming them.
Key Discussion Points:- Understanding Common Pitfalls: What are the most frequent challenges organisations face in implementing NEC ECC contracts?
- Managing Risk and Liability: How can parties effectively allocate risk while maintaining a collaborative approach?
- Effective Contract Administration: Best practices for managing change, early warnings and compensation events.
- Dispute Avoidance and Resolution: How to navigate disagreements and ensure issues are resolved efficiently.
- Lessons learnt: Case studies on overcoming NEC ECC implementation challenges.
This session will provide practical insights, expert guidance and real-world examples to help organisations optimise their use of NEC ECC contracts, ensuring projects are delivered efficiently, collaboratively and in line with best practice.
Wei Lan
Project Director, Global Capital Projects, GSK
Peter Winnicott MRICS
Commercial and Procurement Director, SMP Alliance
Phil Boyes
Associate Project Manager, Arcadis Consulting (UK) -
Defining and Achieving Climate Resilience in Infrastructure
Balancing Carbon Reduction and Adaptation
Rachel Allison
Carbon Manager, HS2
Mark Smith
Strategic Water Sector Director, RSK
Prof. (Dr) Anusha Shah
Senior Director, Resilient Cities and UK Climate Adaptation Lead, Arcadis
Jennifer Laight
Associate Director, Arup
Cllr Peter Schwier
Councillor, Essex County Council’s Climate Czar
Kathryn Tyley
Environment Engineer, Pluviam -
Lunch and Networking
Afternoon Plenary Sessions
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Embedding Sustainability - Achieving Net Zero and Advancing Climate Adaptation
David Wright FREng
Chair, Energy Research Partnership, Former Chief Engineer & Chief Risk Officer, National Grid
Richard Buckingham
Climate Change and Carbon Manager, Anglian Water
Matthew Garratt (Moderator)
Commercial Director, Dalkia, EDF Group
Michelle McCann
Chief Sustainability & Innovation Officer, NHS London Procurement Partnership (NHS LPP)
Scott Mackenzie
General Manager-Commercial Management (CW), Capital Works, MTR Corporation
Kirils Holstovs
Engineer, Transportation (Rail, Structures & Ground Engineering), AECOM
Andy Powell
Manager, National Engineering Innovation Team, Engineering & Technical Assurance, Environment Agency -
From Vision to Reality – How Embracing Innovation Drives Success
Tim Cockayne
CEO, Traffic Management (TM), The Chevron Group
Raymond Poon
Director, Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD), HKSARG
Matthew Garratt (Moderator)
Commercial Director, Dalkia, EDF Group
Valeriya Cherkasova
Senior Consulting Expert, Thinkproject
Dr Angela MacOscar
Head of Innovation, Northumbrian Water Group -
Transforming Tomorrow’s Industry – Leadership, Innovation, and Resilience
Elena Lindsey
Senior Civil Engineer, JBA
Matthew Garratt (Moderator)
Commercial Director, Dalkia, EDF Group
Helen Marriner
Graduate Engineer, WSP -
Closing Remarks
The Martin Barnes Awards
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Refreshments and Networking
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The Martin Barnes Awards Ceremony
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Drinks Reception
The Orange Partnership
Innovator Sponsor
The UK’s leading cost assurance provider on NEC Defined Cost contracts.
Qualified accountants and commercial specialists driving accurate, transparent costs.
Resolving complex issues efficiently.
Sypro
Exhibitor Sponsor
Sypro is the UK's leading solution for managing NEC contracts, ensuring projects stay on track and compliant. It simplifies key workflows like early warnings and compensation events, enhancing collaboration and protecting against delays and disputes for successful project outcomes.
Digital Beehive
Exhibitor Sponsor
For over two decades, Digital Beehive has been a trusted provider of construction management software. Released in 2023, Contract Bee is our flagship product, the only contract management software exclusively tailored to managing NEC Contracts. Contract Bee is designed to meet the needs of both large-scale projects and smaller contracts, both nationally and internationally, and is trusted by clients in a range of industries including infrastructure, power, transportation, healthcare, local authorities and central government.
Sponsor this event
- Grow your business and generate new leads
- Increase your brand awareness and get in front of your target market
- Reengage with key customers, meet new ones and gain a valuable insight into their requirements
- Align your brand with best practice in industry
- Stand out from your competitors and gain a competitive edge
- Benefit from the networking and discover new industry trends through discussion opportunities
- Be a part of the flagship NEC annual conference
To see the package options available, please view our sponsorship table. For more detailed infomation, you can view or download our brochure.
Get in touch by emailing Sheetal.Mistry@neccontract.com to secure your sponsorship.
London
Product code: L07113
Event Speakers
Tim Cockayne, CEO, Traffic Management (TM), The Chevron Group
(Formerly CEO of Ramudden Global UK incorporating Chevron Traffic Management – Jan 15 to Feb 25)
Tim has overseen Chevron’s growth from revenues of £25m in 2015 to revenues of £270m. A key element of this growth has included the scaling of digital services to start transforming the sector. This has included commencing transition from ‘Routine’ to ‘Event Based’ Maintenance using IOT and Smart Geo Zoning.
Janet Young , Director General and Secretary, Institution of Civil Engineers
Dr Janet Young CBE joined the ICE as director general in January 2023. She has extensive experience in the built environment sector across the whole asset lifecycle, having most recently worked in the Cabinet Office where she was head of the Government Property Profession, leading built environment professionals across government departments and arm’s length bodies.
She has also been global director of estates for the British Council, director of estates for the Ministry of Justice, and head of asset management in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
She is a Major Projects Leadership Academy graduate of the Saïd Business School, and a fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Institution of Royal Engineers, and Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Her PhD, Towards Zero Energy Buildings, looked at the challenges and solutions for low carbon and energy developments.
Kathryn Tyley, Environment Engineer, Pluviam
Kathryn helps clients adapt to changing rainfall patterns due to climate change through flood risk assessment and management (NFM, SuDS and traditional methods), runoff treatment and CSO reduction, and water security studies. She works closely with other specialists to provide wider climate adaptation such as increased canopy cover and biodiversity.
Kirils Holstovs , Engineer, Transportation (Rail, Structures & Ground Engineering), AECOM
An award-winning bridge engineer and sustainability consultant at AECOM and Climate Change Lead of the ICE North East Regional Committee. Co-leads an international team of young engineers at WFEO that develops climate policy initiatives. Has served as a sustainability project coordinator and stakeholder engagement coordinator for an internationally significant mega-event.
Peter Higgins, Chair, NEC4 Contract Board
Peter is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers. In 2000 he established pdConsult, a consultancy organisation to provide strategic advice, contract procurement, contract management and dispute resolution services to the construction industry.
Before this, Peter was responsible for the worldwide civil engineering work of a major UK consultancy. He has a background in civil engineering, building and landscape with experience on a wide range of engineering projects in the UK, Africa, and in the Middle and Far East.
Since 1995 Peter has led the NEC drafting panels set up by the ICE to prepare the NEC forms of contract and guidance, and now chairs the NEC4 Contract Board.
Matthew Garratt, Commercial Director, Dalkia, EDF Group
Matthew is a commercial director who has spent 30 years working in the UK engineering and construction industry.
He is a chartered surveyor and fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He has enthusiasm for contract strategy and collaborative working.
Current role is commercial director for Dalkia Engineering and previously worked for Costain in the delivery of UK infrastructure, and NG Bailey.
Matthew joined the NEC Panel in 2005 and now sits on the NEC4 Board – he is approaching 20 years working with NEC.