Unlocking a £1.2bn opportunity wins Top Prize for Boxwood and Balfour Beatty at the 2014 MCA Awards

Boxwood and Balfour Beatty Utility Solutions (BBUS) have won the Project of the Year Award at the 2014 MCA (Management Consultancies Association) Awards, held last night (24th April) at London’s Park Plaza, Westminster. The BBUS project also won the MCA Award for Performance Improvement in the Private Sector.

The night was also hugely successful for the Big Four accounting firms, who picked up ten awards between them (six project award wins, and four individual winners).

Sha Ali of KPMG was the winner of The Times Award for Consultant of the Year. Sha devised a revolutionary new way to deal with customer claims which has saved KPMG client RBS a huge amount of time and resources. The new approach has been submitted for what is KPMG’s second only ever patent application.

Boxwood and Balfour Beatty – unlocking a £1.2billion opportunity…

Balfour Beatty Utility Solutions, the power behind the North West Gas Alliance, were challenged to reduce costs by 20 per cent while maintaining the same level of service. They brought in Boxwood to help, and the programme that the consultancy designed and led delivered the right results. It has also helped Balfour Beatty win contracts worth £1.2 billion over the next eight years.

Colin Kelly, Managing Director, Balfour Beatty Utility Solutions said:

“Our work with Boxwood not only helped us secure more work with the National Grid, we have also introduced the innovations across our other contracts – benefitting our clients and making us a more competitive organisation.”

Alan Leaman, Chief Executive of the MCA, said:

This year’s MCA Awards demonstrate the outstanding value that the UK consulting industry is delivering with its clients. Compared to recent years, there is a marked increase in projects that enable clients to generate higher rates of growth and reach new markets. Consulting firms have also helped the public sector to improve its services and save money for the taxpayer.

Consulting is at the heart of Britain’s efforts to build sustainable economic success and a healthy, caring society.” 

Best New Consultancy Firm

Elix-IRR’s work with Standard Bank of South Africa won The Commercial Excellence Award, and Elix-IRR also picked up The Best New Consultancy Firm Award for this project.

The MCA Awards were judged by an independent expert panel of judges with experience of working in the private and public sectors, universities, consultancy and journalism.

-ENDS-

For more information, including photos of the event, please contact:
David Pippett
Director
DWP Public Relations
Tel: 01225 335675 Mobile: 07899 798197
 

Full list of winners:

OVERALL WINNERS

Project of the Year
Boxwood with Balfour Beatty Utility Solutions
 
Times Award for Consultant of the Year
Sha Ali, KPMG
 
Best New Consultancy
Elix-IRR
Highly Commended: Gulland Padfield
 
PROJECT CATEGORY WINNERS
 
Change Management in the Private Sector (sponsored by BLT)
PwC with URENCO UK
Highly Commended: Boxwood with Guardian News and Media
 
Change Management in the Public Sector
Atkins with Network Rail
Highly Commended: EY and Network Rail and PwC with NHS England
 
Commercial Excellence 
Elix-IRR with Standard Bank
Highly Commended: PA Consulting with National Savings & Investments, and Efficio with Network Rail
 
Customer Engagement
Gulland Padfield with NSL
 
Finance and Risk Management
EY with Lloyds Banking Group
Highly Commended: PwC with Heineken
 
Innovation (sponsored by Kimble)
IBM with Jaguar Landrover
Highly Commended: Deloitte with Sony Picture Home Entertainment, and Capita with Gwynedd Council
 
International 
PwC with Ministry of Interior
Highly Commended: Atos Consulting with Department for International Development (DFID)
 
People
Arup with Transport for London
Highly Commended: EY with The Ministry of Justice
 
Performance Improvement in the Private Sector (sponsored by Mindbench)
Boxwood with Balfour Beatty Utilities Solutions
Highly Commended: PwC with The Co-operative Food, and Deloitte with Ladbrokes
 
Performance Improvement in the Public Sector (sponsored by Atkins)
EY and Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust
Highly Commended: KPMG with University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust
 
Social and Environmental
EY with Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors
Highly Commended: Arup with WRAP obo Green Construction Board, and Mott MacDonald with Department for Education (DfE)
 
Strategy
Propaganda with FMG
 
Technology (sponsored by Truphone)
Deloitte with John Lewis
Highly Commended: IBM with Nationwide
 
INDIVIDUAL CATEGORY WINNERS
 
Change Management Consultant of the Year
Tina Hughes, Atkins
 
HR Consultant of the Year
Michelle Dryden, Deloitte
 
Performance Improvement Consultant of the Year
Mark Hatton, PwC
Highly Commended: Rob Hortopp, KPMG
 
Strategy Consultant of the Year
Daniel Burke, PwC
 
Technology Consultant of the Year
Sha Ali, KPMG
Highly Commended: Nicholas Johnson, Atos Consulting and Maggie Buggie, Capgemini
 
Young Consultant of the Year
Sarah Collins, IBM
Highly Recommended: Henry Ellender, BearingPoint and Sarah Scott, Atos Consulting

 

About The Management Consultancies Association (MCA)

The MCA is the representative body for management consultancy firms in the UK. Its mission is to promote the value of management consultancy for the economy and society as a whole. The MCA's member companies comprise around 60 per cent of the UK consulting industry, employ around 30,000 consultants and work with over 90 of the top FTSE 100 companies and almost all parts of the public sector. The UK consulting industry is amongst the best in the world and a vital part of the business landscape.

Compliance with the MCA's tough entry criteria and rigorous Code of Practice means that MCA member companies are widely acknowledged to provide high quality services to their clients.