In October, 271 individuals from across the UK were awarded with Chartered Project Professional status (ChPP) making them the first of their kind in the world.
ChPP is exclusively awarded by the Association for Project Management (APM) – the chartered body for the project profession – and is a benchmark demonstrating the attainment of a defined level of technical knowledge, professional practice and ethical behaviour.
Project professionals from 70 different sectors including; construction, defence, education, finance, engineering and technology, working for companies such as BT, BAE Systems, Dyson, NHS Digital, will be amongst those 271 waking on 31 October to receive notification of their new chartered status.
This will also include their inclusion on the APM’s new Register of Chartered Project Professionals and the ability to use the post nominal ChPP.
Speaking about the milestone, Debbie Dore, Chief Executive Officer of APM, said: “As of today, project management takes its rightful place at the table alongside other professions including accountancy, engineering & medicine.
“It is our belief that chartership will help to raise standards and employability while addressing a growing demand for project professionals. Chartership will enable project professionals to have an increasingly positive impact on society and the economy by helping to ensure a world in which all projects succeed.”
Demand for high quality project professionals is increasing, with recent figures from the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) suggesting that the current Government Major Projects Portfolio alone has a whole life cost of £423bn. High-value investments in projects are increasingly reflected in the commercial sector too and with Brexit around the corner the APM says the need for highly qualified project professionals has never been greater.
This first cohort of Chartered Project Professionals went through a selection process requiring them to demonstrate a wide range of skills and experience.
Submissions for applications made for serious reading with 252 CPD logs completed, over 140,000 words submitted and many thousands of years’ experience on show. Specifically, requirements for achieving chartered status include: