Crossrail East: Embedding Behavioural Risk Management in Europe’s Largest Infrastructure Programme

Crossrail East: Embedding Behavioural Risk Management in Europe’s Largest Infrastructure Programme

ResoLex worked with the Crossrail East leadership team to embed a structured approach to behavioural risk management, collaboration, and leadership alignment. Using our RADAR methodology, we helped leaders recognise the direct connection between behaviours and project outcomes, creating a new reporting process that surfaced risks early and informed decision-making.

Crossrail East involved complex works along the eastern section of the route, including track upgrades, station improvements, and new facilities to increase train capacity and reliability. While technical challenges were well managed, the leadership team faced a less visible risk: how behaviours, culture, and team dynamics could influence delivery. Recognising this, the Project Director asked us to help strengthen alignment, build collaboration, and develop a reporting framework that could highlight issues before they escalated.

We began by gathering data across the project to establish a baseline of behavioural and project risks. Through confidential interviews, leaders were able to share perceptions openly, surfacing the issues that mattered most to them. These insights shaped a facilitated workshop where the leadership team collectively analysed root causes and prioritised 20 key risk areas. Importantly, they also identified positive and negative behavioural indicators, giving them tangible signs to track and address.

Crossrail East: Embedding Behavioural Risk Management in Europe’s Largest Infrastructure Programme

The outputs were built into a monthly monitoring cycle, with RADAR reports providing leading indicators of risk. These reports highlighted where perceptions varied significantly across the team, enabling the Programme Director to focus attention on alignment and shared understanding. Over time, RADAR became central to monthly strategy meetings, shaping agendas and guiding discussions, and giving the leadership team consistent visibility of behaviours and their impact on risk.

The approach quickly expanded beyond the leadership team to include the wider programme, supporting collaboration across Network Rail, Costain, and Signalling Solutions. The result was a stronger culture of accountability and transparency across the programme and supply chain.

As Project Director Ben Wheeldon reflected:
“To successfully deliver [one of] Europe’s largest infrastructure projects required us to clearly and succinctly identify, rationalise and manage a very unique and complex set of challenges, risks and opportunities. ResoLex not only helped us identify those which potentially had the biggest impacts but also prioritise them and develop, implement and monitor our mitigation plans.”

By embedding behavioural insights into governance and reporting, the Crossrail East leadership team gained a clear, structured way of surfacing risks and turning them into actionable insights. This gave leaders the tools to manage complexity with greater confidence, reduce misalignment, and strengthen collaborative decision-making.

Ultimately, the work helped the team move beyond individual perspectives to build a shared understanding of risks, creating the cultural conditions for resilient delivery on one of Europe’s most complex infrastructure programmes.

UEA Enterprise Centre, 10 years on: Sustainable Construction Through Sustainable Relationships

UEA Enterprise Centre, 10 years on: Sustainable Construction Through Sustainable Relationships

ResoLex partnered with the University of East Anglia (UEA) on the delivery of the Enterprise Centre, one of the UK’s most sustainable buildings. The project set out to achieve exceptional environmental performance, using innovative materials and construction methods to push the boundaries of what was possible.

From the outset, the ambition to deliver a Passivhaus-certified, BREEAM Outstanding building presented unique challenges. Success required close collaboration across a wide network of stakeholders, including UEA, its architects, contractors, local suppliers, and funding partners. Traditional risk registers were insufficient here: they capture technical and commercial risks but overlook those arising from human behaviour, organisational practices, and cultural dynamics. These “invisible risks” around alignment, trust, and collaboration had the potential to derail progress if not actively managed.

Case study - UEA, The Enterprise Centre

That’s where ResoLex came in. We supported the project team with regular workshops and facilitated engagement sessions that created a safe environment for open discussion and problem-solving. Central to this was our RADAR tool, which provided a confidential way for individuals to share perceptions of risk, collaboration, and communication. This data was analysed by an independent panel and fed back to the team through monthly reports, highlighting both emerging risks and positive behaviours.

During our involvement, RADAR provided leading indicators of risk, often giving the team 6-9 months’ early warning of potential issues. This allowed leaders to adjust quickly, prevent conflicts from escalating, and maintain alignment around shared objectives. Crucially, the anonymity of the process gave stakeholders confidence to be candid, surfacing issues that might otherwise have been buried.

The findings showed that risks linked to expectations, commercial negotiations, and the use of pioneering materials were identified and managed early. For example, RADAR flagged concerns around affordability, supply chain capability, and programme clarity months in advance, giving the leadership team time to resolve them collaboratively. As Professor John French, UEA Project Sponsor, later reflected:

“ResoLex’s RADAR platform provided us with real insight into our scheme, allowing us to capture the views of all involved on the project. This ensured we were able to tackle issues early, reduce conflicts, and ultimately save time and money.”

The impact went beyond traditional project measures of cost, time, and quality. By embedding continuous feedback and collaboration into governance, the team developed stronger relationships and created a culture of trust and accountability. This cultural alignment was a critical factor in the successful delivery of a world-class facility that continues to be celebrated for its sustainability.

The project demonstrated that sustainable construction is built on sustainable relationships, and that behavioural risk management can be as important as technical expertise in achieving ambitious outcomes.

Associate Spotlight: Chritsian Lippiatt

Associate Spotlight: Chritsian Lippiatt

We are back with another Associate Spotlight. As part of our continued 25th birthday celebrations, we have been asking our Associates why they choose to work with us and contribute to the projects we support. Here is Christian Lippiatt’s story:

“Over two decades ago, I took on a small project with ResoLex that sparked a deep interest in collaborative working. That initial experience led me into the NHS, where I spent the next 20 years immersed in transformation and service improvement.

More recently, I made the move into freelancing and was thrilled when Ed, ResoLex’s Chief Executive, invited me to rejoin the team. That was over 18 months ago, and I’ve since been supporting the New Hospital Programme, a project that aligns closely with my passion for enabling positive change in the NHS.

What continues to stand out for me is the way ResoLex works. The team brings together a rich mix of backgrounds and experiences, and yet shares a common set of values that make collaboration both meaningful and effective.

Associate Spotlight: Christian Lippiatt

The values of Insight and Creativity deeply resonate with my own approach to teamwork and collaboration. I believe that when every team member is empowered to contribute their perspective, and when we take the time to truly understand the context and needs of a project, we unlock the potential for meaningful, tailored solutions. Insight allows us to move beyond generic approaches and co-create with purpose, while creativity ensures that each person’s unique strengths are harnessed. When these values are embraced, the team’s output becomes far greater than the sum of its parts -driven by shared understanding, diverse thinking, and a collective commitment to excellence.

Working alongside such a thoughtful and values-driven team has been incredibly rewarding, and I look forward to continuing this journey and making a positive impact together.”

We’re grateful to our Associates for bringing their expertise, living our values, and helping clients achieve their desired project outcomes. We’ll continue to share some of their stories and other news on our LinkedIn.

We’ve been recognised as one of the UK’s Best Workplaces in 2025 for Consulting & Professional Services

We’ve been recognised as one of the UK’s Best Workplaces in 2025 for Consulting & Professional Services

We’re delighted to share that ResoLex has been recognised as one of the UK’s Best Workplaces in 2025 for Consulting & Professional Services™ by Great Place to Work® UK 🎉

This recognition is based entirely on anonymous feedback from employees across the industry. Great Place to Work® UK used their research-backed Trust Index© employee survey to assess workplace culture, exploring how organisations support work-life balance, fulfilment, job satisfaction, psychological safety, and financial security.

The Best Workplaces in Consulting & Professional Services™ list includes organisations across a wide range of knowledge-intensive roles, spanning across management consultancy, legal services, engineering, marketing, recruitment, and more.

“Employees in consulting and professional services are under increasing pressure to perform amidst digital transformation and shifting client expectations, reshaping how people work. The top-performing workplaces in this sector stand out by actively supporting their employees through change. Employees have shared with us that clear, consistent communication from leadership, and a focus on inclusive decision-making have helped to ensure colleagues feel supported, informed, and empowered.

Congratulations ResoLex, on creating a truly great workplace and earning recognition as a UK’s Best Workplace in Consulting & Professional Services™”

Benedict Gautrey, Managing Director of Great Place To Work® UK

At ResoLex, we’re proud of the culture we’ve built together, one rooted in collaboration, trust, and the belief that strong relationships underpin successful outcomes. This recognition is a reflection of the amazing people who make ResoLex what it is.

You can view the full list here: UK’s Best Workplaces in Consulting & Professional Services™ 2025 | Great Place to Work® UK

From problems to partnerships: Unlocking project success through relationships, London 2012 Olympic Games

From problems to partnerships: Unlocking project success through relationships, London 2012 Olympic Games

Delivering complex infrastructure projects isn’t just about engineering excellence or hitting deadlines; it’s about the strength of the relationships that hold everything together. The lead-up to the London 2012 Olympic Games, one of the UK’s most ambitious regeneration programmes, highlighted this truth. Amid tight timelines, high technical demands, and multiple stakeholders, success was forged not only on design and construction but on collaboration, communication, and trust across project interfaces.

The preparation for the Games required extensive enabling works at the Marshgate Lane site in Stratford, with a critical project being the relocation of the Sortex factory. This demanded a highly coordinated effort across design, construction, operations, and equipment providers due to tight timelines and the technical requirements of a ‘precision cleanroom environment’ – a contamination-free space designed for precision equipment in simple terms.

ResoLex supported the project by introducing its RADAR tool (then called X-Tracker), designed to monitor the strength of working relationships across teams. Unlike traditional project metrics, RADAR provided real-time, perception-based feedback on collaboration, communication, and decision-making. This data revealed that strong relationships were the most reliable predictor of project success, enabling proactive issue resolution and preventing escalation of challenges.

A pivotal insight came from the site foreman, who observed that when relationships were strong, problems were swiftly solved, but when they were weak, even small issues became major setbacks. This realisation shifted the project team’s focus from tracking only the technical indicators to actively monitoring and strengthening relationships.

The client stated:

If the relationships were working well, any issues will be solved. If the relationships were poor, even small problems would escalate into major challenges.

The positive cultural shift fostered by RADAR led to improved collaboration, proactive problem-solving, and ultimately, project success. This early application proved the tool’s value and laid the foundation for its continued development as a critical enabler of performance in complex project environments.

Over a decade later, there is still a heavy reliance on technical indicators – schedules, budgets, and risk registers – in tracking progress.  While essential, these measures only highlighted problems after they had already surfaced, whereas relationship health provides early warning signs of potential issues.

If relationships are the hidden driver of performance, what more can we do as an industry to build them deliberately?

Associate Spotlight: Russell Poynter-Brown

Associate Spotlight: Russell Poynter-Brown

As we celebrate 25 incredible years of ResoLex, we’re shining a spotlight on some of people who make it all possible — our Associates.

We asked a few of them to share why they choose to be part of the ResoLex team, and their reflections have been nothing short of inspiring. Here’s what Russell Poynter-Brown had to say:

 

Russell associate spotlight

 

“I was delighted when Ed and Tony asked if I’d come and work with them on a high-profile, complex and multi-stakeholder programme, especially as a key workstream centres on collaborative working.

In all honesty, I’d almost given up on the construction and infrastructure sectors, as it is so rare to find clients, consultants and other advisers who fundamentally understand what it takes to work in a truly collaborative environment.

 

ResoLex is refreshingly different. It uses its 25 years of expertise and insights to constructively challenge clients and then work with them to think laterally, suspend judgement, and then co-create programme-specific practicable, long-term value-added solutions, with measurable programmatic benefits.

 

Associate Spotlight - Russell Poynter-Brown

 

The ResoLex team is a constant source of creative ideas and solutions. I‘ve never felt freer to work in a psychologically safe environment, where I can test my thoughts or ask for comments and opinions without feeling that I’m being judged or fearing that the Team already has a ‘stock’ answer that I’d be forced to adopt.

 

Highly complex programmes invariably have their challenges which can often adversely affect working relationships. However, ResoLex has a fundamental understanding of how people work in teams, in particular the interaction between people, processes and the environment within which team personnel work. I’ve been fortunate to be able to tap into this knowledge bank and adapt several ‘in-house ‘ models for our programme client’s benefit, enhancing its ability to work in a more collaborative way.”

Stay tuned on LinkedIn throughout our birthday celebrations as we continue to showcase some of the voices behind ResoLex — the people driving impact and making a real difference every day.