Skills development | Aviation & travel
No metrics. No problem. Here’s why this one still made the shortlist.
Some of the most important work never makes it into a case study. What happened at Heathrow Security was a compliance and capability challenge that couldn’t be measured publicly, but its impact was significant enough to be a deciding factor in Solvd Together being named Heathrow’s Provider of the Year. This is as much of the story as we’re able to tell…
What Heathrow was really up against
New high-tech screening equipment was coming to the airport. With it came new protocols, new responsibilities, and a hard deadline. Heathrow needed hundreds of security officers ready, not just to operate unfamiliar technology confidently, but to do so in a way that upheld and advanced the passenger experience.
That second part was the harder brief. The new equipment and protocols intersected directly with some of the most sensitive areas of customer interaction: passengers with hidden disabilities, transgender passengers, and non-binary passengers. Getting the technical operation right was necessary. Getting the human dimension right was essential.
A tick-box compliance programme wasn’t going to cut it.
Heathrow needed something that went beyond regulatory compliance. They needed something that built genuine capability, confidence, and shifted how security officers understood the people in their care.
The Impact
2023
Provider of the Year
days full training programme
security officers trained
The decision that changed everything
Heathrow had worked with Solvd before. They understood what a discovery-led approach looked like and the impact it made. That prior trust meant the brief could be ambitious from the outset – not just upskill the workforce, but genuinely shift how security officers understood and approached the people in their care.
The design would have to cater for a workforce that’s operationally stretched, time-pressured, and deeply varied in experience and background. Engagement couldn’t be assumed. It had to be earned.
Digging deeper to design smarter
The Solvd team went behind the scenes at Heathrow, spending time with security officers in their real working environment, gathering insight into how the job felt from the inside, and getting hands-on with some of the new equipment before it went live.
That workplace immersion shaped everything. Understanding the rhythm of a security officer’s day – the pressure, the pace, the moments where the human aspect of the role surfaces quickly and without warning – meant the programme could be designed for the reality of the job, not a sanitised version of it.
What we built together
The result was a four-day training programme: a deliberately designed blend of materials, reflection, and practice that guided security officers from knowledge to genuine confidence. Every element was designed to live in the reality of the job, not sit apart from it.
Game-based learning, co-designed with Heathrow
Rather than presenting new protocols and compliance as content to absorb, we built game-based learning experiences that let officers practise real-world scenarios in a safe environment – celebrating the knowledge they already had while building on it. Designed in close partnership with the Heathrow team, not handed down from above.
Storytelling through animation
A series of animations brought genuine customer service scenarios to life – covering the kinds of interactions that demand both technical precision and human sensitivity. Hidden disabilities, transgender passengers, non-binary travellers. Situations where getting it right matters, and where seeing it played out first makes all the difference.
Reflection built into the experience
Confidence isn’t just built through practice – it’s built through processing. Novel approaches to personal reflection were woven throughout the programme, giving officers space to revisit and consolidate what they were learning rather than simply move through it.
A self-service resource hub
Solvd’s technical expertise was used to build and launch a dedicated SharePoint site for programme participants – fully accessible, optimised for devices, and packed with handouts, videos, and supporting materials that officers could return to long after the four days were over.
The results, and the ripple beyond them
The nature of airport security means the specific impact measures from this programme are confidential. We’re not able to share them here.
What we can say is this: the programme’s success was one of the factors that led to Solvd Together being named Heathrow’s Provider of the Year – an award that reflects the totality of the relationship, and the consistent standard of work delivered within it.
Sometimes the most meaningful results are the ones you can’t publish. The people who went through this programme know what changed. So does Heathrow.
