Consultant officially drops Parsons Brinckerhoff from today

WSP’s 7,100-strong UK division is targeting expanding its international work, as the global consultant officially rebrands today.

WSP - which has dropped Parsons Brinckerhoff from its name - wants to up the amount of overseas work it does from the UK to 20%, up from 10% today.

Mark Naysmith, the firm’s UK managing director, told Building: “Building on our global platform is the next evolution of our growth strategy.”

WSP has expanded rapidly over the past ten years, through a combination of organic growth and 85 takeovers, including transport-focused UK consultant Mouchel from Kier last autumn and global engineering business Parsons Brinckerhoff from Balfour Beatty in 2014.

The Tornoto stock exchange-listed WSP now employs 36,000 people worldwide.

Naysmith said the UK business was still looking to plug gaps in its service offering, including in project, programme and cost consultancy, after losing out to rival Currie & Brown in the bidding to buy Sweett last year.

“If the right acquisition is there we will certainly look, but we’re not relying on that,” he said.

Commenting on the rebrand, Naysmith said it was the “coming together globally of all these organisations into one united business”.

He added that the new branding reflected that the firm was “not the hard hat, rigger boot” type and would appeal to younger generations as well as the wider professional network.

The firm has been structured into four business units led by -

  • Transport & Infrastructure – managing director Steve Smith
  • Planning & Advisory – managing director Ian Liddell
  • Property & Buildings – managing director Kamran Moazami
  • Energy & Industry – managing director Frazer Mackay

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