How APM Award winner Iconic Project Management punches above its weight

Think of the construction industry and you may picture vast entities like Balfour Beatty and Kier Group using their ample muscle and machinery to get things built and expand their sprawling portfolios. But Iconic Project Management, APM’s 2024 Small to Medium Enterprise of the Year Award winner, shows that it’s perfectly possible to stand alongside the big guns in this competitive sector, steel toe to steel toe, despite having far fewer boots on the ground.

In fact, the Iconic team, which offers construction project management services to a range of commercial clients, numbers only nine. So what’s its secret?

Living up to their word

“The majority of our work comes from personal recommendation,” says Lizzie Hewitt, who co-founded the Wokingham-based Iconic in 2018 with her partner Darren. “We always do what we say we’re going to do, and we don’t make promises we can’t keep. We go as far as guaranteeing to deliver construction projects on time, on budget and on brief.”

Add in the fact they’re determined to always pay suppliers on time, to treat clients with respect and to remain transparent in everything they do and the foundations of the business appear even more solid.

In the past 12 months, Iconic has completed client-side project management roles for two major works: the £17m runway extension at Southampton Airport and the £11m sustainable Castle Bailey Quad development for the University of Oxford. Both are now operational.

It’s not all about the projects

Iconic puts great thought into how it treats its people, with a focus on developing and supporting project managers. The aim is for those managers to spend only 80% of their time delivering projects, freeing 20% for personal and professional development, managing direct reports and working on innovation.

Line managers are encouraged to identify people’s interests and talents beyond their day jobs and find ways to apply them. Hewitt gives the example of an apprentice project manager who likes graphic design. She now handles Iconic’s visual assets.

“I make it my business to spend time with every employee, learning what’s important to them and working to make sure company goals and personal interests are in harmony,” says Hewitt. “We’re determined not to lose this family atmosphere as we grow.”

Thinking days

One element that caught the eye of the APM judges was Iconic’s innovative ‘thinking days’, which came about as a way to help a team member who’d become burnt out from the long hours and pressure of a major project. Given a day to go running in the mountains, he came back rejuvenated.

Everyone now gets a thinking day once a month. The rules: you can’t spend it at home or in the office; you’re not allowed to answer the phone or read emails; and chores are forbidden. So far, staff members have used the opportunity to go walking in the countryside, to have a spa day and to watch cricket.

It was on a thinking day that Hewitt came up with the idea for MiPM, Iconic’s free online database of construction and project management knowledge – further evidence of a company punching above its weight.

“We wanted to help small businesses get their construction projects completed on time, on budget and to the right quality,” she says. “On my thinking day, it occurred to me that a pay-as-you-go service might be an affordable way to offer guidance to those clients.”

Hewitt explains how creating the resources for MiPM is an ongoing, low-cost background project, a chance for people to collaborate with colleagues beyond their usual teams, and for apprentices to supplement their learning by working on live content. It’s also a low-risk way to cement Iconic’s position externally as experts in the field.

“It’s fantastic to be recognised”

Apprenticeships are key to the business, a way to give local people the chance to pursue a career in project management. Iconic offers a five-year Level 6 degree apprenticeship through the University College of Estate Management in Reading. The programme combines formal study, on-the-job learning and mentoring by experienced project managers.

Of course, this isn’t purely altruistic. After taking on its first apprentice, the Iconic team quickly realised they were “a real asset to the business” and that apprentices could make a valuable contribution to projects.

As for how it felt to win an APM Project Management Award, it seems fitting to hand that question over to one of Iconic’s apprentices.

“I’ve seen first-hand how exceptional the team I work with is,” says Rachel Hounsell-Roberts, Assistant Project Manager at Iconic, “not only in leading projects, but also in fostering our professional growth. It’s fantastic to be part of a team recognised by APM for its innovation and excellence.”