People and Leadership
The RR-SMR partnership allowed Curzon to work alongside leadership to co-design pragmatic solutions, build internal capability, and mobilise high-performing teams. This resulted in strengthened internal and external stakeholder confidence, increased organisational maturity, and readiness to deliver multiple multi-billion-pound nuclear programmes.
Curzon Consulting partnered with Rolls-Royce SMR (RR-SMR) during a critical phase in the organisation’s development, supporting its transition from an R&D programme into a commercial business capable of mobilising and delivering multiple early-stage nuclear programmes.
Curzon worked closely with Rolls-Royce SMR’s PMO to stabilise reporting and improve organisational visibility and control. Reporting capability was in-sourced, improving transparency, timeliness, and confidence, while simultaneously building sustainable internal capability within the PMO. This enables RR-SMR to engage its partners with greater confidence and grow a strong, trust-based relationship.
Building on this foundation, Curzon supported the development of the PMO into a more cohesive and scalable function capable of supporting a rapidly expanding organisation. Working collaboratively with the business, Curzon helped define a PMO vision, purpose, and management values, alongside a transformation roadmap informed by IPA guidance, P3M3, PMBoK, and lessons learnt from comparable major programme environments.
As customer contracts reached the horizon, Curzon supported leadership through the development of the Programme Directorate – a new executive-led function overseeing delivery of a portfolio of customer and R&D projects, PMO, and industrialisation. Working alongside leadership and HR teams, Curzon helped design, implement and track a successful phased organisational transition that maintained operational continuity and engagement during a period of significant growth and change.
As RR-SMR’s first deployments in the UK and Europe progressed through the bid phase, Curzon worked with the Project Directors and their leadership teams to help stand up scalable project delivery organisations capable of running major early stage nuclear contracts. This included designing organisational structures, governance frameworks, role definitions, interface plans, and integrated ways of working across functions. Leadership alignment and team effectiveness workshops helped establish shared behaviours, and delivery principles across newly formed teams.
A major focus was helping RR-SMR understand what ‘delivery-ready’ meant for the customer projects. Curzon worked closely with the business to develop practical frameworks and scoring systems aligned to industry best practice and the realities of major project delivery. The engagement contributed to the successful mobilisation and growth of two customer project teams from only a handful of individuals to almost 200 people, with both contracts in place and a ‘delivery-ready’ organisation established.
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