NCE / ACE Consultants of the Year Awards: shortlisted firms

Major firm

Atkins

Atkins’ commitment to tackling the future of the planet is clear. 2008 was the year in which it pledged itself to making reduction of carbon the central priority for all capital projects, through an initiative called “carbon critical design”. Backing up this pledge are projects like the Bahrain World Trade Centre – the world’s first commercial building to integrate large scale wind turbines into its structure, which will supply 15% of the building’s electricity. The building has already become an icon for sustainable design.

Atkins’ 18,000 staff are being offered training to help them understand carbon reduction issues, and the firm is also using its expertise in this area to raise awareness among its clients.

RPS

Among its major achievements in the past year, RPS ranks getting into the top 20 in Britain’s Top Employers listings as one of the most significant. Among firms from a variety of sectors, RPS was ranked top for knowledge management and 7th for careers and training.

Staff numbers have risen by 13% over the past year through a mix of acquisition and organic growth, with acquisitions including an M&E consultancy and a specialist environmental research laboratory.

Known as an environmental and energy consultant, RPS is diversifying, as exemplified by the Donarbon waste management complex, where RPS’s work included architectural, structural and civil engineering designs. The scheme won the Royal Town Planning Institute award for climate change.

Jacobs

Jacobs is keen to use the current economic situation as an opportunity to make its client contacts even stronger.

The company has had a strong year, with growth in a range of sectors, including rail, nuclear and energy, transport, water and environment and more. Current projects include the Forth replacement crossing and engineering support at the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston.

International

Arup

Arup’s commitment to innovative design, combined with its concern for sustainable development, has contributed to a very successful year in the international market. The firm’s portfolio shows the diversity of its workload and its markets, with current commissions including the Stonecutter’s bridge in Hong Kong, the Art Institute of Chicago and China’s Guangzhou TV tower, which when completed will be one of the world’s tallest buildings, at 610m high.

Arup now has 90 offices in 37 countries worldwide and, in 2008, 52% of its turnover came from work outside the UK.

Scott Wilson

China has been a very fruitful market for Scott Wilson, evidenced by its Haihe River landscape design project in Tianjin helping the firm win Consultancy of the Year category at the British Expertise International Awards. The company now employs more than 100 staff in 10 offices throughout China, and was the first major foreign design company to enter the Wuxi market.

Scott Wilson is also working on two major projects in India. One is  the Mumbai industrial corridor. The other is the 2010 Asian Games equestrian centre – both requiring considerable technical expertise.

Halcrow

2008 has been a prosperous year for Halcrow. The consultant exceeded its profit target by £7M. But the company is being careful for the forthcoming year, setting budgets and sensibly restricting investment in future projects.

At present, 50% of Halcrow’s turnover comes from overseas projects, and the firm continues to expand in the North American and Australian markets.

Major infrastructure projects like the Qatar-Bahrain Causeway, and shrewd investment, give Halcrow confidence that 2009 will be an equally exciting and profitable year.

Medium

MVA

Over the past year transport planning specialist MVA’s turnover has gone up by over 30% and staff numbers have increased by 20%. This has been the result of a clear growth strategy that has included establishing new offices in Abu Dhabi and Bahrain and extending its range of services – especially in the sustainability sector.

The firm has just celebrated its 40th year, and plans to continue growing, despite the recession. Current projects include the London Mayor’s Transport Strategy and evaluating new high speed rail routes in the UK for Greenguage 21.

JBA

JBA’s has built a very solid business based on flood risk consultancy, to the extent that the firm is now one of Europe’s leading consultants in this sector. In 2008 the company achieved the highest scores in the Environment Agency Strategic Flood Risk Management Framework bid, beating companies 50 times its size.

Growth of 17% in the past year has been achieved through a combination of traditional engineering skills and cutting edge technology. One major success has been the national use of JBA’s surface water flood risk maps, with other projects including the design and construction of flood defences in Tilicoultry.

Looking ahead, the company is positive it can continue growing, and anticipates further expansion overseas in the years ahead.

Frankham Consultancy Group

Frankham has achieved an impressive 33% increase in fee income over the past year, as well as getting ISO14001 accreditation for its environmental management system, which as been used to improve the company’s awareness of sustainable issues. One of its biggest achievements has been to receive recognition from the ICE Engineering Awards for the work on the Bromley Educational Centre. The challenge was to construct this building using as sustainable a method as possible, and the result is a 75% reduction in project energy consumption.

Frankham will soon start work on a new £36M secondary school, as part of the Government’s Building School’s for the Future initiative.