Former Currie & Brown managers jump ship to engineering firm

Five staff from Currie & Brown, including former international operations director David Mitchell, have joined engineering consultancy Sinclair Knight Mertz (SKM).

Long serving former regional managers Bill Booker (Manchester), Myles Cameron (Edinburgh) and Ian McCallum (Newcastle) have all joined Mitchell by switching to SKM in recent months. Former staffer John Powell, who was at the firm for 47 years, also made the jump in a consultancy role. It is unclear as yet what roles they have taken although it is understood some are working abroad.

QS News first revealed the exodus of staff last October, which included West End boss Muir Crichton, who joined Gardiner & Theobald.

The firm has also since lost its head of building surveying Gary Fraughen, who joined rival Cyril Sweett at the end of 2005. This was revealed on the QS News website before Christmas.

The wave of departures has been put down to a culture clash between the new management led by chief executive Euan McEwan, and the established partners at the firm. McEwan joined last summer and plans to grow the firm’s global operations in PFI and PPP as well as management consultancy.

Sources close to Currie & Brown insist the firm is actively recruiting new staff. This includes a new regional director at Currie & Brown’s West End office in London, Andrew Hudson, a former associate director at Turner & Townsend. Hudson joins on 1 February.

There has also been much movement overseas at Currie & Brown. It has emerged that the firm’s Irish division has bought out Currie & Brown’s 50% stake in the company. The managing director of the division Steve Smith has now set up a company called C3 Projects, which has a workforce of 15. He stressed that the new outfit had a continuing alliance with Currie & Brown.

Currie & Brown has also been hit by a wave of departures at its US division in the last year. These include vice presidents David Turner, Colin Scott and Ally Lamb, who have joined Quantum Meruit, MW Zander and Ernst & Young respectively. The firm’s US operation is now headed by president Greg Parker, who formerly worked at Crawley Associates.