Trained in business law and management, I joined the company as a Business Developer, passionate about meaningful infrastructure projects. I am now pleased to take on operational tasks. I enjoy running, DIY, home renovation, and spending weekends hiking, socializing or visiting cultural sites.
When I arrived on the HS2 project, I quickly realised I wasn’t joining a single site, but rather several projects within one: a viaduct, two tunnels, five ventilation shafts, earthworks, porous portals, and two buildings to construct. My first challenge was understanding the team structure and meeting colleagues, many of whom were surprised to see someone new arrive after five years of work and just months before key asset deliveries.
In fact, many of the people I met in my first month have since moved on to other projects, which made the onboarding process more complex.
As PMO, my role involves close collaboration with senior managers and directors who expect detailed knowledge of project topics. To get up to speed, I had to understand the contract, the interfaces, the history of innovations, the issues, and the solutions across all workstreams. Coming from a business development background, transitioning to the production side was both impressive and demanding. To accelerate my learning, I shadowed different teams and spent as much time on site as possible.
Expectations from the client and the JV board were high, especially regarding handover KPIs. My first major task was to set up dashboards to track these, which are now successfully in place.
In short, a lot happened at once , but overall, I was welcomed by colleagues who were happy to explain their work. After six months, I feel I’ve found my place on the project. We are now on track to complete two major milestones in early August: the completion of the viaduct and the tunnels.
Trained in business law and management, I joined the company as a Business Developer, passionate about meaningful infrastructure projects. I am now pleased to take on operational tasks. I enjoy running, DIY, home renovation, and spending weekends hiking, socializing or visiting cultural sites.
One step • Florian AUBERT
When I arrived on the HS2 project, I quickly realised I wasn’t joining a single site, but rather several projects within one: a viaduct, two tunnels, five ventilation shafts, earthworks, porous portals, and two buildings to construct. My first challenge was understanding the team structure and meeting colleagues, many of whom were surprised to see someone new arrive after five years of work and just months before key asset deliveries.
In fact, many of the people I met in my first month have since moved on to other projects, which made the onboarding process more complex.
As PMO, my role involves close collaboration with senior managers and directors who expect detailed knowledge of project topics. To get up to speed, I had to understand the contract, the interfaces, the history of innovations, the issues, and the solutions across all workstreams. Coming from a business development background, transitioning to the production side was both impressive and demanding. To accelerate my learning, I shadowed different teams and spent as much time on site as possible.
Expectations from the client and the JV board were high, especially regarding handover KPIs. My first major task was to set up dashboards to track these, which are now successfully in place.
In short, a lot happened at once , but overall, I was welcomed by colleagues who were happy to explain their work. After six months, I feel I’ve found my place on the project. We are now on track to complete two major milestones in early August: the completion of the viaduct and the tunnels.
