Jacobs takes WSP’s place on Balfour Beatty’s list of design partners

WSP has been dropped from Balfour Beatty’s pre-appointed stable of design consultants, Britain’s biggest contractor has revealed.  

The business announced yesterday that Texan engineering giant Jacobs would join Atkins and Mott MacDonald on its strategic design partnership. 

Atkins and Mott MacDonald were appointed to the partnership alongside WSP when it was established in 2017 and Balfour confirmed to Building that the latter firm had been dumped from the scheme. 

A spokesperson for Balfour Beatty said: “Our Strategic Design Partnership is continually evolving. We review our partners every five years to ensure that our combined expertise and capability aligns with the upcoming market opportunities we are primed to deliver.  

“For the second generation of the partnership, we have chosen to leverage Jacobs’ breadth of expertise in the energy sector as we align our organisation to capitalise on the decade of infrastructure growth we see in our chosen markets.” 

Balfour Beatty set up the partnership with the aim of re-framing designer-contractor relationships to foster openness, collaboration and innovation. 

Projects using the scheme typically work with one partner, with firms chosen based on their technical capability and capacity to support the client. 

Stephen Tarr, Balfour’s chief executive for major projects, said he was “delighted” to welcome Jacobs to the partnership.  

He said: “We truly believe that collaborative partnerships such as the Strategic Design Partnership have the opportunity to revolutionise our industry and must be considered as the vehicle of choice to ensure that projects are procured, designed and delivered safer, faster, better and greener.” 

Bruce Chalmers, Jacobs’ people and places solutions vice president, said the partnership was “an exciting opportunity to help shape the future of UK infrastructure delivery”.