What is the Guild of Project Controls?

The Guild of Project Controls (GPC for short) was the brainchild of the Planning Planet community.

James Williams,the Founder of Planning Planet states, “the need for a professional body to support Practitioners and Industry has been recognised for a time now.  Since 2011 Planning Planet has been sponsoring the development of the concepts and has been working with companies and leading professionals to push this initiative forward.

Planning Planet has thousands of global members from all industry sectors who have been petitioning for years for something to be done about establishing this Centre of Excellence.

Planning Planet is recognised by Practitioners and Industry alike as being a leading supporter for raising the profile of these professions.

For the first time ever, an organisation will exist which has the strength of two communities:

1. The community of individuals worldwide, who are committed through their own exchange of knowledge, to create a set of standards for individuals involved in Project Controls, Planning, Project Delivery and Administration which enables individuals to follow a recognised career path and be rewarded for differing levels of Excellence.
2. For employers, globally, to also contribute towards the stated standards of excellence recognising that they in turn benefit, not only in quality of project delivery, but also in recognising those employees who not only measure themselves against others, but also strive to improve at their job function.”

So in summary the aim of the guild is to create a centre of excellence for Contract Administration & Document Control, Planning & Scheduling, Cost Management, Forensic Analysis and Project Controls. 

Personnel who have been through some sort of GPC process, in our opinion, will find it easier to get the best jobs as they have been assessed by an independent organisation as to their competency.  The important thing to note here is that the pan-industry, global standards against which people will be independently tested, are being shaped by the employers looking to employ those personnel.  Impressive stuff.

What the Guild is:

• Independent, transparent and supported by major employers (such as Mace, BP, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Alstom, Bechtel, CH2MHILL, Turner & Townsend, EDF Energy, BG Group, SNC Lavalin, Mansell and Canadian Resources).
• A not for profit organisation.  All fees will be used, in an open-book fashion, for the good of the membership.
• Founded on pan-industry, professional standards, maintained via an ongoing process of development.
• Independent and in a position to collaborate with employers and professional or educational establishments.
• Run and lead by Planners & Project Controls professionals.
• Supported by the Global Community and it’s Employers

The Guild is designed to support companies and individuals with:

• Career Path/Professional development;
• Training;
• Certifications to Prove Competency;
• Mentoring; and
• Project Controls Systems Resources.

Guild Benefits: Individual Member:

1. Access to Standards of Practice for self-training and self-improvement.
2. Access to a career path recognised by employers.
3. Elevate your profile and standing in your field; obtain a Guild Accreditation.
4. To incorporate globally recognised Standards of Practice into your work methods.
5. Increase your personal competitiveness as an individual.
6. Gain recognition of your achievements and the benefits you provide to your potential employers.
7. Gain help with finding organisations that will use your capabilities to the full and provide you with challenging opportunities.
8. Have access to the Guilds knowledge base and practice standards.
9. Be able to use the Guilds support infrastructures to address your personal work practices and support needs.

Corporate Member:

1. Get access to recognised career paths for your Project Controls Professionals.
2. Incorporate globally recognised standards into your Project Control practices.
3. Increase your competitiveness as a company through using proven methods.
4. Propose tenders and project bids that are supported by fully accredited teams.
5. Gain credibility as an organisation of excellence through Guild Accreditation.
6. Gain access to Guild recognised good-practice training bodies.
7. Gain access to help with the recruitment of experts, graduates and apprentices.
8. Have your Project Control practices assessed against industry-wide standards.
9. Have access to a pool of expertise to address your project performance issues and recovery action.
10. Have access to a pool of expertise to create the architecture of your individual projects or corporate practices.

Project Resource Limited have been experts in the supply of Planners and Project Controllers since 2002, and we continue to spread our geographical reach around the world.  We believe that what the Planning Planet team and their partners are trying to achieve with The Guild of Project Controls is a very good thing.  We look forward to supporting the Guild in the future and giving increased status to these very valuable professions.

You can read more about the Guild here and here.

Should you be looking for a job as a Project Controller or Planner, then we will always have a broad selection of jobs for these professions.

Click this link to view our current Project Controls jobs.

Register a Project Controls or Planning job with our specialist Project Controls and Planning recruitment team.

Until our next post, good luck.