In collaboration with The Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction UCL, MIGSO-PCUBED (MP) is proud to unveil the results of a multi-year research programme uncovering one of the most overlooked- and unmeasured - drivers of project success: Business-to-Business (B2B) relationships.
Often absent from risk registers, yet responsible for some of the costliest delivery failures, relational risk remains a project’s biggest blind spot. This research brings long-needed evidence to what many delivery leaders have sensed but struggled to manage: that how organisations work together is just as critical as what they deliver.
A wake up-call for programme leaders
“Major projects don’t fail overnight,” said David Whitmore, Delivery Director at MIGSO-PCUBED. “They fail progressively - through misaligned expectations, trust gaps, and communication breakdowns. Our partnership with UCL allowed us to measure these relational risks for the first time at scale.”
Among the research’s standout findings:
- 84% of projects shows relationship impact was significant
- Yet 97% of projects don’t measure relationship health
These insights point to a growing blind spot in project controls: the human and relational factors that determine how well partnerships actually deliver.
Turning insight into action: The RelationSHAPE framework
Building on the findings, MP has translated the research into a practical diagnostic and development solution: RelationSHAPE. Designed specifically for complex, high-value programmes, RelationSHAPE enables organisations to measure, understand, and improve the seven core dimensions of B2B relationship health - from partner alignment and trust, to ways of working and performance governance.
“This isn’t a soft skills programme,” said David Whitmore“ This is a business-critical capability for any organisation delivering through partnerships.”
Already, the tools are being used by several national programmes to improve decision-making, reduce risk, and accelerate collaboration across supply chains.
Strengthening the future of UK delivery
The publication comes at a pivotal time for UK project delivery, with an ambitious pipeline of national infrastructure and transformation programmes set against a backdrop of increasing public scrutiny and delivery pressure.
This research gives leaders a new lens to manage their most important, and most vulnerable, project asset - the relationships themselves.
Whats next?
MP is now engaging with clients across sectors to embed RelationSHAPE into programme governance and performance management frameworks. The approach aligns closely with existing controls and maturity models, enhancing rather than replacing current processes.
Thank you for the contributions David Whitmore
