This award recognises the success of the UK building services industry overseas. For contractors and consultants, this could take the form of success in winning a number of overseas orders or commissions; the completion of a particularly noteworthy overseas project or to reward international expansion or the opening of overseas offices.
Winner
Arup
The judges were struck by the range of locations where Arup is at work and the company’s continued growth around the world. It now operates from 87 offices in 35 countries, and has projects in more than 160 countries.
New offices have opened in locations including Guangzhou, Wuhan, Mumbai, St Petersburg, Rome, Abu Dhabi and New Jersey. The Middle East is increasingly lucrative, with fee turnover up tenfold in three years.
China has proved to be a particularly exciting market. Arup’s Olympics projects include the Beijing national stadium and the national aquatics centre, clad in translucent ETFE which lets through sunlight to help heat the building and pool water. The firm is masterplanning the Dongtan eco-city.
Runners-up
Buro Happold
The firm has 19 international offices with 415 building services staff working on commissions which represented 40% of 2007 turnover. Last year saw the opening of a Copenhagen office, providing an integrated building services and structural engineering consultancy. Projects include the Alsion campus of the Syddansk University in Denmark and the Helios House green petrol station in Los Angeles.
Hurleypalmerflatt
International commissions are doubling each year. The firm delivers overseas projects through a network of UK offices and strategic partnerships with leading practices in more than 80 cities worldwide, including America, Asia and Australia.
Hyder Consulting MEP
Last year was a significant one for the Hyder Consulting office in the Philippines, which grew to a complement of about 200 engineers. Also in 2007, the firm launched its Regional Sustainable Design Group in Dubai to provide climate-friendly solutions in the Middle East. Big overseas projects include Education City, a 2,500-acre campus in Qatar; Lusail City, a leisure, shopping and housing development in Qatar; and the Supreme Council for Family Affairs in Doha.
Waterman International
Waterman’s global strategy has been to establish a presence in growth economies by relocating staff and growing organically or by acquiring strategic engineering companies. This has been a success with about 25% of group turnover now coming from international projects. Waterman has acquired companies in Dublin, Brussels, Romania, Sydney and Melbourne, and developed offices in Cork, Warsaw and Lodz in Poland, Moscow and St Petersburg, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Brisbane, Beijing and Tianjin.
Morgan Professional Services
In 2007 MPS was appointed to undertake feasibility and masterplanning studies in the Ahmadi township for Kuwait Oil Company (KOC). The firm consequently received a commission for a 44,000m2 office complex, with departments linked by a 200m-long atrium, and an 8000m2 display centre showcasing the history of the gulf state, oil and the KOC.
Source
Building Sustainable Design
