The Institute for Collaborative Working (ICW) brought together members of the ICW Executive Network at the House of Lords for an exclusive Nuclear Sector Lunch on 16 September 2026, exploring how greater collaboration can support the future of the UK nuclear industry.
The event opened with a welcome and scene-setting address from Lord David Evans of Watford and brought together senior leaders, policymakers and key stakeholders from across the nuclear industry and its supply chain. The discussion provided an opportunity to strengthen relationships, exchange perspectives and consider how structured collaborative working can help address some of the sector's most significant long-term challenges.
The UK nuclear industry sits at the heart of our energy security, national resilience, engineering capability and economic future. Its long-term success depends not only on major infrastructure and decommissioning programmes, but also on developing skilled people, retaining and sharing critical expertise, strengthening supply-chain resilience and unlocking innovation. Many of the challenges facing the sector will span decades. This is why leading organisations are harnessing collaboration to navigate complex programmes, strengthen safety assurance, address skills shortages and benefit from the agility, expertise and unique contribution of SMEs.
Speakers throughout the event reinforced an important principle: no organisation can address these challenges alone. A structured and collective approach to collaboration can help organisations build stronger relationships, share knowledge and expertise, manage complexity and achieve better outcomes.
Putting Collaborative Working into Practice.
As Frank Lee FICW, CEO of the Institute for Collaborative Working, highlighted, this principle is central to ICW's work across the nuclear sector. The ICW Nuclear Sector Forum, led by Sellafield, brings organisations together to share knowledge, strengthen relationships and put collaborative working into practice across the industry.
ICW would especially like to thank Andrew Van Schaick, Chris Watson and Aleksandra Radecka BA (Hons) MCIPS MICW for their leadership and chairing of the Forum and their continued contribution to strengthening collaboration across the sector.
In his keynote address, Christopher Kehoe of MARCH shared valuable insights into the role collaboration plays in successful delivery. The wider discussion explored how stronger relationships can support innovation, improve outcomes and create greater value for industry, government and the wider public.
Our sincere thanks to MARCH for sponsoring the Nuclear Sector Lunch, for their continued support of ICW and for their leadership in collaborative working. We also thank everyone who joined us at the House of Lords and contributed their experience and perspectives to such an engaging discussion.
ICW looks forward to building on this momentum and continuing to work alongside its members to support a stronger, more connected and collaborative UK nuclear sector.
