T&T acquires Rawlinsons to move in on Australian property market

Turner & Townsend has bought Australian QS Rawlinsons in a bid to launch itself into the traditional building and property market in the country.

Until now T&T had a team of 20 in Australia, which operated only in the oil, gas and mining sectors around Brisbane and Perth.

Rawlinsons, which is expecting a turnover of A$10m (£4.1m) for 2005, has around 80 staff in offices throughout Australia.

It works in the private and public sectors and its clients include IBM, Qantas, National Australia Bank and AMP, the financial giant.

The firm has also worked in Asia.

Rawlinsons will merge with T&T’s Australian business, creating a100-strong national operation called Turner & Townsend Rawlinsons. The new entity is expected to hit a turnover of A$15m this year.

It will be run by the managing director of Rawlinsons, Harry Carrick. He said: “All clients will benefit by having access to a wider pool of talent, knowledge and resources as we deliver a wide range of services, including cost management, project control and contract services.”

Vince Clancy, managing director, international, T&T, said the deal was part of a strategy to build a greater global network. “We have been in Australia for a number of years in the oil, gas, energy and mining markets, but now we will go into traditional building and property markets.

The relationship with Rawlinsons goes back several years. Merging with them will give us access to the local market and their diverse client base.”

T&T’s next step in Australia would be to expand the new entity in terms of numbers of staff and geographical reach, he said. T&T’s Asian offices are in China, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.

Rawlinsons added that the name Turner & Townsend Rawlinsons would stay for the foreseeable future due to the strength of the Rawlinsons brand.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The Australian push is part of an ambitious plan for global growth. T&T recently improved its Northern Irish toehold with the acquisition of local QS Roy Kirk Associates, an eight-strong consultancy with a turnover of £400,000. The move is aimed at expanding T&T’s geographical reach and picking up bigger bits of work in Northern Ireland.

Tom Harrison, UK managing director at T&T, also revealed to QS News a plan to trawl the firm’s Southern African offices for staff. The company has 14 offices and 200 employees in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Harrison said the UK operation was hiring staff in every office.