Project recovery
Rapid diagnosis of design, procurement, programme, cost and stakeholder problems, followed by a practical route back to control.
- Distressed or delayed projects
- Design and interface failures
- Recovery planning and leadership
Strategic property and project leadership
When a project becomes difficult, experience changes the outcome.
Independent senior advice for projects, properties and commercial positions that have become technically, contractually or organisationally complex—based in Winchester and working across London and Southern England.
£176mLondon Underground PPP programme
23consultants coordinated at the Barbican
2,800branches in a national banking rollout
£0final outcome on a six-figure claim
Where I add most value
Senior judgement where the standard process is no longer enough.
Complex project delivery
Client-side direction from brief and feasibility through design, procurement, construction and close-out.
- Occupied refurbishments
- New build and fit-out
- Operationally constrained works
Commercial resolution
Independent analysis and disciplined negotiation where technical facts and contractual positions must be brought together.
- Dilapidations
- Claims and final accounts
- Cost and risk scrutiny
Strategic property advice
Clear recommendations for owners, occupiers and investors facing consequential property decisions.
- Building surveys and defects
- Reinstatement and maintenance
- Statutory and technical advice
Selected outcomes
Evidence from projects where complexity mattered.
Barbican Theatre refurbishment
Led a £3m refurbishment within a fixed 12-week closure, coordinating 23 consultants around an immovable reopening date.
Outcome Completed on time and within budget.
Lastminute.com dilapidations
Tested the landlord's stated position against the underlying development intentions and reframed the basis of the terminal claim.
Outcome A claim of several hundred thousand pounds was reduced to nil.
Royal Bank of Scotland
Delivered occupied refurbishments, national portfolio consolidation and the infrastructure programme for Chip and PIN across approximately 2,800 branches.
Scale Four years embedded within Group Property.
London Underground PPP
Commercial Director within the programme management team, controlling consultant appointments and professional costs across 23 interdependent workstreams.
Scale £176m programme with ministerial and parliamentary scrutiny.
A clear recovery method
Understand the real problem. Re-establish control. Deliver the essential outcome.
- 01
Diagnose
Separate symptoms from root causes across the technical, commercial and organisational picture.
- 02
Reframe
Challenge inherited assumptions and identify the decisions that will restore momentum.
- 03
Coordinate
Create clear information, action and accountability across the project team.
- 04
Resolve
Close technical and commercial issues through judgement, negotiation and follow-through.
Independent senior expertise
Experienced enough to see the whole problem. Close enough to lead the detail.
Philip Russell is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and a Member of the Association for Project Management. He founded Philip Russell Associates in 1991 after early roles with Jones Lang Wootton and King & Company.
Clients engage Philip directly. That means senior attention from the first conversation through to resolution: clear analysis, candid advice and practical leadership without the layers of a large consultancy.
FRICSMAPMChartered Project Management Surveyor
Selected clients and organisations
Royal Bank of ScotlandLondon UndergroundCorporation of LondonWestminster City CouncilQinetiQ / MODJP MorganHarrods EstatesKurt GeigerRamboll UKITNBAALastminute.com
Client perspective
Trusted when delivery matters.
- Contract value
- £3m
- Fixed closure
- 12 weeks
- Project team
- 23 consultants
“Philip clearly had a complete mastery of the project, has handled our team and the contractors excellently and has worked very long hours to deliver…”
Following Philip's management of the Barbican Theatre refurbishment, completed within an immovable closure period, on time and within budget.
Start with the situation
If the problem is difficult to define, that is often the right time to talk.
A concise initial conversation can establish the immediate priorities, the information needed and whether independent senior input would improve the outcome.
Email Philip
info@pr-a.co.uk
07831 598061
Winchester, Hampshire
Working across London, Southern England, the wider UK and Europe