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Scott Wilson Group

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Scott Wilson Group plc
TypePublic limited company
IndustrySupport Services Consultancy (includes civil and structural engineering)
Founded1951 (1951)
Defunct2010 (2010)
FateAcquired by URS Corporation
HeadquartersLondon, England
Revenue£360 million (2009)
£10.7 million (2009)

Scott Wilson Group plc was a global integrated design and engineering consultancy with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. Founded as a civil engineering firm in 1951, the company broadened its range of services through acquisitions. Scott Wilson offered consultancy and professional services in the railways, buildings and infrastructure, environment and natural resources and roads sectors, and at its peak employed 5,500 people in 80 offices worldwide. Scott Wilson became a public limited company in 2006, and in 2010 was purchased by URS Corporation that in turn was purchased by AECOM.

History

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Sir Cyril Kirkpatrick (1872–1957) was Chief Engineer to the Port of London Authority from 1913 to 1924, when he established his own firm specialising in docks, harbours and sea defences. During World War II, Kirkpatrick advised on the construction of the concrete caissons which formed the Mulberry Harbour that facilitated the D-Day landings.[1] In 1945 engineers William Scott and Dr Guthlac Wilson founded a partnership. Between them they were responsible for the design of the Chiswick and Twickenham Bridges over the River Thames in 1933,[2] and the Royal Festival Hall in London.[3] The two firms merged in 1951, forming Scott & Wilson, Kirkpatrick & Partners.[2]

In the late 1960s, Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick & Partners was responsible for engineering works on the M6 motorway through the Lune Gorge in north-west England.[4] Throughout the latter half of the 20th century, the firm continued to grow, largely through acquisitions. In August 1995, the company purchased two British Rail engineering design offices in Glasgow and Swindon during the privatisation of British Rail.[5] Other acquisitions were in the fields of environmental consultancy, health and education property, power and mining, landscape design and engineering.[2]

In 1997, the firm adopted the name Scott Wilson. One year later, it enacted job cuts in response to the 1997 Asian financial crisis.[6]

On 15 March 2006, it was floated on the London Stock Exchange, reducing its debt pile in the process. Later that same year, the company resumed its acquisitive activities, and publicly declared its interest in acquiring property consultancies in particular.[7][8] During 2007, it completed the acquisitions of both DCL Consulting Engineers and McLay Collier; annual profits also rose to £10 million that same yar.[9] During 2008, the company completed multiple acquisitions, including of the Terrance Lee Partnership and Benaim Enterprise, the latter being in exchange for £5.5 million.[10][11]

In early 2009, in response to the Great Recession, Scott Wilson enacted a salary freeze along with job cuts comprising 10 percent of its global workforce.[12][13] That same year, the company secured a contract to redesign Farringdon Station for the Crossrail programme, as well as further work on the Mersey Barrage.[14][15]

During the summer of 2010, a bidding war to purchase Scott Wilson Group broke out between two American engineering companies, CH2M and URS Corporation.[16][17] In late June, URS Corporation announced that its offer of £161 million has secured the recommendation of Scott Wilson's board, after which CH2M submitted a higher offer of £189 million to buy Scott Wilson,[18] which was in turn surpassed by URS's increased offer of £223 million.[19] In early July, CH2M announced it would not place any further bids for the firm.[20][21]

In early August, the majority of Scott Wilson's shareholders voted to accept URS Corporation offer, which valued the firm at £233 million.[22] Accordingly, on 10 September 2010, URS Corporation completed its acquisition of Scott Wilson Group plc;[23][24] consequently, the company was delisted from the London Stock Exchange.[25] At the time of the acquisition, Scott Wilson Group had 5,500 employees in 80 offices, mainly located in the UK, Europe, India, the Asia-Pacific region, and the Middle East. The group's regional main offices were in London, Hong Kong, Warsaw, New Delhi, Bahrain and Dubai.[26]

Initially, Scott Wilson was rebranded as URS-Scott Wilson,[27] however, in early 2012, the Scott Wilson name was dropped in the UK, Ireland, Europe and the Middle East,[28][29] as well as in India during the following year.[30]

Projects

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Inauguration plaque at Plover Cove Reservoir

Scott Wilson Group was involved in a large number of high-profile engineering projects worldwide.

Hong Kong

References

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  1. ↑ "Obituary: Sir Cyril Reginald Sutton Kirkpatrick 1872–1957". ICE Proceedings. 9 (1): 127–128. 1 January 1958. doi:10.1680/iicep.1958.2281.
  2. 1 2 3 "History". URS/Scott Wilson. Archived from the original on 11 November 2013.
  3. ↑ "Royal Festival Hall". Engineering Timelines. Retrieved 8 November 2013.
  4. ↑ "M6 motorway through Lune Gorge". Engineering Timelines. Retrieved 8 November 2013.
  5. ↑ "British Rail design offices sold". Rail. No. 261. 13 September 1995. p. 9.
  6. ↑ Wallis, Keith; Delargy, Melanie (29 January 1998). "Scott Wilson to lose 20 staff Halla sheds 70 Maunsell housing halted Plant firm collapses UK companies reeling after Asian meltdown". constructionnews.co.uk.
  7. ↑ "Scott Wilson eyes up property consultants". constructionnews.co.uk. 27 July 2006.
  8. ↑ Cushnie, Lorraine (7 December 2006). "Scott Wilson pays £30m for two firms".
  9. ↑ Ainsworth, David (12 December 2007). "Scott Wilson profits hit £10m". constructionnews.co.uk.
  10. ↑ Dunne, Mark (24 July 2008). "Scott Wilson builds bridges with Benaim Enterprise acquisition". growthbusiness.co.uk. Vitesse Media plc. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  11. ↑ Glancy, Lisa (2 September 2008). "Scott Wilson confident for first half". constructionnews.co.uk.
  12. ↑ Whitten, Nick (10 March 2009). "Scott Wilson to axe 10pc of staff". constructionnews.co.uk.
  13. ↑ Willoughby, Michael (10 March 2009). "Scott Wilson slashes worldwide workforce by 10%". building.co.uk.
  14. ↑ Lane, Michael (4 June 2009). "Scott Wilson wins £9.6m Crossrail design contract". constructionnews.co.uk.
  15. ↑ "Scott Wilson buoyant". building.co.uk. 6 November 2009.
  16. ↑ "Scott Wilson confirms takeover approaches". constructionnews.co.uk. 7 June 2010.
  17. ↑ Matthews, David (7 June 2010). "Bidders circle Scott Wilson". building.co.uk.
  18. ↑ Lowery, Dave (29 June 2010). "CH2M Hill trumps URS with an offer of £189m for Scott Wilson". constructionnews.co.uk.
  19. ↑ Bill, Tom (30 June 2010). "URS trumps CH2M Hill with £223m bid for Scott Wilson". building.co.uk.
  20. ↑ Pitcher, Greg (1 July 2010). "CH2M Hill pulls out of Scott Wilson race". constructionnews.co.uk.
  21. ↑ Lowery, Dave (28 June 2010). "Scott Wilson set to be taken over by URS in a £161m deal". constructionnews.co.uk.
  22. ↑ Lowery, Dave (2 August 2010). "Scott Wilson shareholders vote for takeover". constructionnews.co.uk.
  23. ↑ "Wayback Machine has not archived that URL". Archived from the original on 9 July 2019. Retrieved 8 November 2013. {{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  24. ↑ "URS seals Scott Wilson deal". building.co.uk. 17 September 2010.
  25. ↑ Matthews, David (10 September 2010). "Scott Wilson delists after URS completes buy-out". building.co.uk.
  26. ↑ "Working here". URS/Scott Wilson. Archived from the original on 11 November 2013.
  27. ↑ "Unlocking the potential – URS/Scott Wilson at MIPIM 2011". URS Corporation. 7 March 2011. Archived from the original on 9 July 2019.
  28. ↑ "URS SCOTT WILSON BECOMES URS". URS Corporation. 9 January 2012. Archived from the original on 15 March 2016.
  29. ↑ Sidders, Jack (9 January 2012). "URS sheds Scott Wilson name". constructionnews.co.uk.
  30. ↑ "URS extends global brand to its India operations". URS Corporation. 22 February 2013. Archived from the original on 9 July 2019.
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