Award Nomination:
The IERRT Collaboration Charter is a joint initiative between Dragados, ABP and project partners to embed a truly collaborative “One Team” culture across the Immingham Eastern Ro-Ro Terminal project.
As the project moved towards the construction phase, increasing complexity and interdependencies highlighted the need for a step-change in collaboration. Traditional siloed working risked impacting both safety and delivery, prompting the development of a shared Charter to align behaviours, values and expectations across all organisations.
The Charter defines a clear mission and five key values – culture and respect, collaboration, delivery, leadership and integrity, supported by practical behaviours such as open communication, ownership, inclusivity and proactive problem-solving.
To bring the Charter to life, the Stage 2 Collaborative Workshop was delivered as a key enabling step. Bringing together cross-functional teams from all partners, the workshop focused on building trust, identifying barriers, and agreeing practical improvements to ways of working. This included clearer handovers, defined decision ownership, and agreed “non-negotiables” linked directly to the Charter values. Success has been demonstrated through stronger relationships, improved communication, and clearer accountability across organisations. The initiative has enhanced both safety culture, by encouraging openness and early intervention, and delivery performance through better coordination and decision-making.
This collaboration shows how a shared Charter, embedded through structured engagement, can create a lasting cultural shift and support safer, more efficient project delivery.
Additional Information:
The Immingham Eastern Ro-Ro Terminal (IERRT) Collaboration Charter represents a step-change in how Dragados, ABP and delivery partners work together – moving from a traditional multi-organisation project model to a truly integrated “One Team” approach.
The need for the Charter emerged as the project was developing during Stage 1 preparing to transition into the Stage 2 delivery phase of the scheme. Increasing complexity, tight programme requirements, and interdependencies across organisations created a risk of siloed working, delayed decision-making and reduced clarity in ownership. These challenges had the potential to impact both safety outcomes and delivery performance. It was clear that a new, shared way of working was required, one that aligned behaviours, values, and expectations across all partners.
The Collaboration Charter was developed as the foundation for this change. It sets out a clear mission, to deliver the project efficiently and sustainably while building a strong, collaborative culture and defines shared values across culture, collaboration, delivery, leadership and integrity. Crucially, it goes beyond principles by establishing practical behaviours such as open communication, ownership, inclusivity, and proactive problem-solving, ensuring that collaboration is consistently demonstrated in day-to-day activity.
To embed the Charter in a meaningful and practical way, the IERRT Stage 2 Collaborative Workshop was designed and delivered as a key enabling step. Bringing together representatives from all partner organisations, the workshop created a safe, structured environment to translate the Charter from an aspirational document into lived behaviours. Through cross-functional group work, participants aligned on a shared purpose (“Our WHY”), identified what high performance looks like under pressure, and openly discussed the barriers that previously limited effective collaboration. This created a strong foundation of trust and psychological safety across organisations.
The workshop then focused on practical improvements. Teams worked collaboratively to map functional handovers, identifying what information is needed, when, and by whom, removing inefficiencies and reducing the risk of errors. Sessions on decision-making clarified ownership and escalation routes, directly addressing common bottlenecks and improving pace and accountability.
Critically, the session concluded with a set of agreed “non-negotiables” and visible changes linked directly to the Charter values. Each action was assigned to a named individual and a defined timeframe, ensuring ownership was shared across organisations rather than remaining within silos.
Success has been measured through both behavioural and operational improvements. The Charter has created a common language across all partners, strengthening relationships and fostering a culture where individuals feel safe to speak up, challenge constructively, and collaborate openly. This has led to clearer communication, improved decision flow, and better coordination between functions.
From a safety perspective, the emphasis on trust, fairness and wellbeing, central to the Delivery value, has reinforced a proactive safety culture where risks are identified and addressed earlier. From a delivery perspective, improved clarity and ownership have reduced inefficiencies and increased confidence in programme execution.
Instigating the IERRT Collaboration Charter has demonstrated how aligning organisations around shared behaviours, supported by structured, practical engagement, can deliver a meaningful and lasting improvement in both safety culture and project performance.
