Latest awards

Highlights of some of our latest award successes:

Mott MacDonald has won all three Technical Advisor awards, including the prestigious Technical Advisor of the Year for the fourth time in five years.

Overall Technical Advisor of the Year

Success factors: We provided technical advisory services on 187 transactions around the world during 2012. The combined capital value of these deals ran into several billion dollars. Many of the projects were ‘pathfinder’ deals as they were either the first of their kind or in countries new to public private partnerships (PPP).

The judges said: “Through its considerable expertise, Mott MacDonald played a crucial role in offering solutions to technological problems. Its involvement in such a diverse body of projects made the firm a logical winner.”

Technical Advisor of the Year – Energy

Success factors: We worked on 38 power transactions during 2012. Of these, 17 deals reached financial close during the year. ‘Pathfinder’ deals included two concentrated solar power (CSP) projects in South Africa, wind farms in the Philippines and Mongolia, and a 1000MW coal-fired power plant in Malaysia.

The judges said: “Mott MacDonald was involved in some of the stand-out projects of 2012.”

Technical Advisor of the Year – Infrastructure

Success factors: We worked on 71 transportation transactions during 2012. ‘Pathfinder’ deals included highway projects in Egypt and Senegal. The judges highlighted our involvement in the Intercity Express Programme (IEP) Phase 1 PPP, which involves replacing older high-speed trains running on the UK rail network. This is the world’s biggest privately financed rolling stock deal and one of the largest, most complex PPP projects to date.

We worked on 78 social infrastructure transactions during 2012, covering projects in the global health, education and welfare sectors. Turkey’s healthcare sector is one of the fastest growing in the world and we’re the only technical advisor to be involved in all of the country’s PPP hospital projects. As part of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) PPP healthcare advisory framework, we’re advising government clients on the development of new PPPs in Grenada and Ghana. The IFC – part of the World Bank – seeks to create opportunities for people to escape poverty.

The judges said: “Despite challenging economic times, Mott MacDonald has worked in both new and existing markets to help bring projects to financial close.”

Mott MacDonald is named Engineering Consultant of the Year, overcoming strong opposition.

Success factors: Our entry focussed on the resilience of our performance in the face of continuing tough economic conditions. It also highlighted our work in the design and delivery of exemplar ‘green’ buildings and the contributions we’re making to drive a more sustainable built environment for the UK. This included discussing innovation in the use of BIM and the development of tools such as Carbon Pilot and Optimise.

The judges said: “Throughout the recession Mott MacDonald’s income has grown year on year to reach £1.1 billion in 2012. The growth in their international work, customer satisfaction levels and low staff churn rate are also praiseworthy.”

This is the second time in three years that we’ve won this award – one of the UK’s most prestigious prizes for an engineering consultancy. That’s a testament to the outstanding professional excellence we display on engineering projects worldwide.

2 St Paul’s Place in Sheffield, UK, has won at the CIBSE Building Performance Awards.

Our role: We acted as the lead advisor for the sustainable refurbishment and fit out of a government office building.

Success factors: The building’s energy performance certificate (EPC) B-rating score of 49 has improved to 44. The BREEAM Offices 2006 Very Good rating (score of 58) has been elevated to a BREEAM Fit-out 2008 Excellent rating (score of 72.12). 2 St Paul’s Place is currently the subject of a two-year post-occupancy evaluation study funded by the Technology Strategy Board. Data compiled after the first year of this study showed a 30% reduction in energy use, while the building’s display energy certificate (DEC) rating has risen from Band F (score of 127) to Band D (score of 89). This makes 2 St Paul’s Place one of – and possibly the – best-scoring, fully air conditioned office building on the UK government estate.

The judges said: “Mott MacDonald showed a robust methodology for post-occupancy evaluation and a clear focus on operational energy usage at the design stage. The building is well liked by its users.”

Two Mott MacDonald projects were winners at the BCIA ceremony, regarded as the ‘Oscars’ of the UK construction industry. With its rigorous entry and judging process, success at BCIA is a particularly prestigious acknowledgement of our delivery of professional excellence.

Brighton Goods Bridge No.6, London won the Civil Engineering Project £3 million-£50 million. We provided detailed design.

Success factors: Constructed on a highly constricted site, the bridge is a geometrically complex, five-span concrete structure carrying the main railway lines connecting London and Kent over other busy passenger and freight lines. Network Rail wanted a new maintenance-free structure to be built without impacting on rail services. An existing structure had to be demolished and replaced during a series of rail blockades. Challenges were presented by unforeseen ground conditions and obstacles.

The judges said: "A great example of a team pulling together to deliver a hugely complicated and challenging project."

Victoria Station Upgrade won the BIM Project Application Award. We provided concept and detailed design.

Success factors: Building information modelling (BIM) is being used on a scale unprecedented in the UK to manage complexity and enable major tunnelling innovations for the upgrade of Victoria Underground Station. This will expand the existing south ticket hall, create a new north ticket hall and improve access to the platform tunnels. Work is being carried out alongside continuing station operation in a congested urban environment.

The judges said: "A true multi-layered model that goes way beyond 3D design functions to become the single source of truth on the project."

Mott MacDonald has been named Best Technical Adviser at the Partnership Awards – previously the Public Private Finance Awards. This is the sixth time in eight years that we’ve claimed this title at the world’s foremost public private partnership (PPP) awards event.

Success factors: Over the course of 2011, Mott MacDonald advised on 351 transactions in 63 countries, with a combined capital value of several hundred billion dollars. We remain at the forefront of the PPP sector, not only innovating to help evolve the model in traditional markets, but also bringing its benefits to new markets and helping them to develop a model that meets their needs.

The judges said: “From roads in Belgium to wind farms in Morocco, Mott MacDonald has worked to deliver a wide variety of groundbreaking deals. In each case, it has applied its rigorous best practice requirements, which have developed over time as individuals share their experiences of working in different markets and different environments.”

Mott MacDonald won two of the three ‘Large Firm’ awards at this top UK event.

Hindhead Improvement Project won the Infrastructure (Large Firm) Award. Working in partner-ship with the Highways Agency and Balfour Beatty, we provided complete design services including preliminary design, site investigation and supervision, and detailed design of the highway, earthworks and tunnel. We also provided design support and construction supervision.

The project incorporates 6.6km dual-carriageway road, 1.8km of which runs through a twin-bore tunnel, and has cut congestion on the major A3 highway. This had previously caused problems around Hindhead and the environmentally protected Devil’s Punch Bowl. Described by the UK Government’s Minister for Transport as a “cutting-edge road scheme that sets a new standard for how vital infrastructure improvements can be delivered.”

The judges said, “Exceptional ingenuity and innovation saw substantial cost and time savings and environmental benefits realised.”

Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama won the Building Services (Large Firm) Award. Here we provided building services, civil, structural, façade and fire engineering design.

Cardiff’s Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama has undergone a remarkable makeover, creating a landmark building that provides world-class educational facilities and two new state-of-the-art performance venues. Our solutions enabled performance spaces to achieve acoustic excellence, the design to score a BREEAM Excellent rating and performance to exceed Building Regulations in several areas.

The judges commented, “Mott MacDonald’s comprehensive building services strategy enabled energy requirements to be reduced and value engineering to be realised.”

Houghton-le-Spring Primary Care Centre won the Building Services Best Practice Award and Legacy Award for Sustainability. As Building services engineer we provided combined ground source heating and cooling, photo-voltaics, natural ventilation, night cooling and solar thermal technology.

The centre is the first healthcare building in the UK to achieve the BREEAM Outstanding rating, securing a post-construction score of 85.31%. Carrying out building energy modelling at the early design stage and incorporating the design solution into the centre’s architectural treatment and budget was key to delivery. It’s predicted the centre will see a 33% reduction in CO2 emissions.

The judges said, "The centre is an exemplar of sustainable design and represents a step change for the NHS as their first BREEAM Outstanding building. The result was a finished project that all parties involved can be proud of.”

The University of Wales, Newport’s new City Campus, has won a Civic Trust Award. Mott MacDonald was appointed as the project manager, client representative as well as employer's agent.

The £35 million campus, situated on the banks of the River Usk in Newport, has been recently completed ahead of programme and below budget.

We initially assisted the University in reviewing its development plan for the institution and then focused on coordinating the preparation of the design brief for the City Campus. We also supported the client throughout discussions with the Welsh Assembly Government and the Urban Regeneration Company, Newport Unlimited, evaluating the feasibility of using the site, as well as advising on the technical aspects of procurement of consultants and managing the design process.

Mott MacDonald is featured in the prestigious Top 25 Best Big Companies to Work For Survey – one of only four companies to appear six years in a row. At 22nd, we're the only top ranked multi-disciplinary consultancy and engineering company on this year’s list and the only employee-owned company to feature.

Mott MacDonald was also runner up in the training and development special awards category. Our win follows news that the consultancy has achieved the Best Companies One Star Accreditation for 2012. This recognises the company as having first class workplace engagement practices, including exceptional motivation, inspiration and staff retention levels.

The Best Companies survey is recognised as one of the UK's most prominent surveys of workplace engagement and satisfaction based on the responses of over 231,599 employees across 1082 companies.

The Engineering Achievement Award, which recognises a project considered best-in-class and world-leading in execution, was given to our enhanced oil recovery (EOR) project at the Qarn Alam oil field in Oman.

The project objective is to increase oil production to 60,000 barrels per day by injecting steam at the rate of 18,000 tons per day into the oil reservoir. This is the world's first full-field steam injection EOR project.

What impressed the judges:
Owing to geological conditions and the highly viscous nature of the oil at Qarn Alam, only about 4% recovery was feasible using conventional oil extraction technologies. Our application of a sophisticated EOR technique – thermally assisted gas oil gravity drainage – will enhance the recovery rate by up to 35%.

Mott MacDonald named Tunnel Design Firm of the Year. This top award reflects our global reputation for innovation in tunnelling founded on a portfolio of projects supported by centres of excellence in the UK, Europe, India, Hong Kong, Singapore, the USA and Canada.

What impressed the judges:

• Consistent quality of design and delivery for tunnelling projects worldwide
• Challenges overcome to resolve client issues
• Innovative tunnelling solutions
• Value management and cost effectiveness
• Client satisfaction and exceeding expectations
• Overall growth in global tunnelling business

Mott MacDonald had a hat trick of wins at this prestigious event, which recognises excellence in the design, planning, management and delivery of overseas projects.

• Delhi Metro Phase II was named Major Project of the Year – the event’s top award
• Our work in Iraq won the Emerging Market Award
• Our leading LATreatTM corrosion protection system won the Innovation Award

Including design of 30 stations, a 6.2km viaduct and 3,4km of twin tunnels, our work was vital in enabling Phase II to be delivered and allowing Delhi Metro to expand and benefit more of the city’s 17 million inhabitants. We’re now working on Phase III of the metro.

Since 2003 Mott MacDonald has completed over 800 projects in Iraq that have played a pivotal role in improving living conditions.

The LATreat™ system protects against accelerated low water corrosion which damages marine structures by eating away steel at up to 25 times the rate of normal corrosion. As all the chemical agents required for LATreat™ are derived from seawater itself, the process is highly environmentally friendly.

Our world leading cost consultancy, Franklin + Andrews, has been named Best QS Firm of the Year 2011.

Judges commended us for outstanding innovation in the area of sustainability as well as our commitment to our staff, their wellbeing and professional development.

Overall performance and growth of our business in 2010 was assessed together with the quality of work we carry out for clients. We demonstrated excellence, providing information on some of our key projects and in-house developed, industry-first sustainability tools such as CapIT and LifeCYCLE. We also explained how we've been reducing the company’s carbon footprint, managing our supply chain, our workforce culture, our quality, environment and safety system, our robust approach to risk management and our local environmental practice plans.

Mott MacDonald has been named Engineering Consultant of the Year. This eminent award recognises projects which are united by their implementation of intelligent efficiencies, sensitive innovations and sustainable solutions during these toughest of times.

We’ve been able to deliver substantial sustainable achievement, stable business performance and ongoing investment despite economic conditions in 2010. Key examples of our delivery of savings and added value include:

• Efficiencies of 20-30% for a UK government agency
• a 70% cut in energy consumption for a UK commercial building
• a 10% passenger capacity increase for Hong Kong Airport
• 90% reduction in construction time for a UK water company
• two month design saving for a US water facility

The judges commended our ongoing pursuit of innovation, high standards of customer care, sustainability, staff training and welfare, collaborative working and corporate responsibility.