Sheryl Durham: Why working on first-of-a-kind, at scale projects is the reason I am here

For the past decade, she has led project controls and estimating for some of the UK’s flagship energy transition and net-zero projects. Now Sheryl Durham joins Walker Sime to build the organisation’s portfolio in energy and infrastructure.

Sheryl Durham’s enthusiasm for her work is infectious. “You can’t not get swept up in it,” she says. “It’s just so important and so exciting. A company I used to work with had the vision statement ‘engineering a better future for the planet and its people’, which I think captures it exactly. That’s something to be enthusiastic about.”

Sheryl studied business and was heading towards a career in management accounting in oil and gas when she realised that she “absolutely loved being on site.”

“I enjoyed sitting with the supervisor, filling out budgeting and cost engineering questions. I love seeing things actually being built. And I think from there I knew projects was where I wanted to be and project controls was a natural fit for my analytical side.”

Sheryl’s projects career began with oil and gas in Northern Canada, then nuclear, then oil and gas in the UK. “Over the last eight years or so we’ve seen the switch from oil and gas to low carbon and net-zero transition projects. I’ve worked closely with engineering teams looking at very early phases of the art of the possible when it comes to decarbonisation. The more I’ve got involved the more exciting it becomes.”

Risk and change

Sheryl joined Walker Sime in the summer of 2024 with a mission to expand the organisation’s presence in project controls. “Our goal as project controllers is to give programme directors the information they need to deliver successful projects. It’s focused on planning, scheduling, budgeting, estimating, performance management, and earned value management.”

Most of all, the project control role is centred around risk and change.

“If you can effectively identify and manage risk and change on a project, you’re 90% of the way there.”

The voice of reason

How do you manage risk and change on multi-billion pound decarbonisation projects like carbon capture or industrial scale hydrogen?

“It’s really about being the voice of reason,” says Sheryl, “bringing the best people and processes to those roles to make them more successful.

“In part, that means having the passion to bring those projects to fruition, but it’s also about having the technical understanding of how these projects need to progress through engineering phases to construction and commercial operations. What’s so exciting is that no one really has the experience in this yet because, aside from a few demo-scale plants, it hasn’t been done in the UK.”

To Sheryl, being the “voice of reason” in projects that break new ground means finding a way to thread the needle between infrastructure realities and investor expectations.

“Programmes have to be investable. They have to make a return, so investors want to de-risk as much as possible,” Sheryl explains. “At the same time, the industry has recently seen what happens when you ask contractors to work to razor thin margins and absorb too much risk. And when you’re working on first-of-a-kind, at-scale projects, the risks are even greater. Our role is to help smooth that, to communicate with investors and stakeholders and use data to explain what expectations are realistic and what aren’t.

“Through project controls, we support the benchmarking and assurance process, putting the plans, estimates and commercial terms of the contract together and looking at how we can do those differently to make sure that risk is allocated appropriately throughout the programme and supply chain.”

The case for investment

One key ingredient in making these types of infrastructure projects investable is government support. “If you look at where offshore wind was 15 years ago compared to where it is now, it has taken a lot of government policy and investment support in the beginning to execute those early programmes,” Sheryl explains.

“There’s a similar onus on government now. It is contributing to the Net-Zero Hydrogen Fund or the cluster sequencing programme for carbon capture, and we hope to get to a point where these projects are commercially viable with less and less government investment. But if the government –and if the country – is serious about reaching net zero by 2050 (or 2045 in Scotland), that investment needs to happen to open up private investment and move the technologies forward.”

Input and ownership

After a career spent with major construction and engineering companies, what made Sheryl choose Walker Sime?

“I’ve been in the big machines, the multi-billion pound companies. I wouldn’t change any of those experiences.”

“With Walker Sime, you have a more collaborative environment where you’re setting strategy and policy. You’ve got more input and ownership of where you want to take the business. I don’t know how to say it without saying ‘it’s a control thing’!

“I’m really looking forward to expanding Walker Sime’s presence in project controls. But I’m also keen to get people internally excited about what that job is and what it entails.”

 

A reputation in energy transition infrastructure

The opportunities in decarbonisation are clear. Hinkley Point C is due to come online around the end of the decade. Sizewell C will arrive shortly after. Phase 1 hydrogen and carbon capture and storage projects are taking shape. Project Union, a hydrogen distribution network set to be the operational backbone of hydrogen in the UK, has received partial planning consent and awaits further policy and consenting outcomes to progress toward phased final investment decisions.

“Once the first two or three of these projects get spades in the ground it signals to the market that these are investable projects,” says Sheryl, “and we should see a significant pipeline of programmes coming in behind them.”

The right kind of people

What is it Walker Sime needs to be doing to play a larger role in that critical energy infrastructure work? Sheryl is clear:

“To do exactly what we’re doing – working on complex, large-scale infrastructure projects like electricity grid upgrades, hydrogen production and carbon capture.

“We can be part of this essential transition. Walker Sime has a history of punching above its weight. Given the types of clients and projects already secured, we can demonstrate an impressive track record of success. I want to showcase our capabilities so that we’re seen as a trusted partner for contractors and clients, and that we can provide specific expertise and the right kind of people to support those programmes.”

To explore ways in which project control and other Walker Sime services could support your decarbonisation project, talk to us.