How Mott MacDonald's buildings business is delivering with purpose

What do Wembley stadium, Heathrow Terminal 5, NHS Nightingale hospitals, 101 Moorgate and the Shakespeare North Playhouse have in common apart from all being iconic and innovative structures? The answer is that they are all distinct, complex building projects where Mott MacDonald played a key role in the design and delivery.

Targets set by the business’ buildings team means these stand out projects will soon be joined by a new generation of groundbreaking structures as it grows its major building projects portfolio.

According to Mott MacDonald managing director for buildings in UK and Europe Mark Ewen, this growth will come from the business’s ability to deliver a broad range of services in very focused markets.  “Buildings are some of the most exciting and prestigious projects engineers can work on and, as a business, we have a strong legacy in delivering these schemes,” explains Mark.

“From master planning through to the detailed design of the most technically demanding, large-scale building projects, our teams have experience across the full building lifecycle. And the broader focus of our wider business means that we are also able to draw lessons from delivering major infrastructure projects and bring that knowledge into our buildings work too.”

Delivering with purpose

“We have a strong reputation for helping clients to navigate complex issues to deliver major infrastructure projects that set new standards in quality and exceed expectations and we bring that same approach to the major building projects we work on,” Mark explains.

“As a purpose-led but also a performance-driven organisation, we have long standing expertise in delivering buildings for the health, defence, aviation, education, communities and venues markets. It's important to us to deliver projects that create a lasting impact for communities and that is something we focus on at every stage of delivery to maximise the outcomes for people and the planet.”

Mark points to his team’s recent appointment as the technical delivery services partner for Places for London, which is Transport for London’s (TfL) property company. The work will help unlock the full potential of a £2bn property portfolio. It will focus on developing thriving commercial and retail spaces that support local businesses and create enhanced public realm, cycling infrastructure and pedestrian-friendly environments.

Mark adds: “This is a great example of the type of large scale, purpose-led buildings work that we are now supporting our clients with. These are projects that will genuinely leave a legacy for health, wellbeing and prosperity of people and communities.“

Buildings are some of the most exciting and prestigious projects engineers can work on and, as a business, we have a strong legacy in delivering these schemes.

Turning challenges into opportunities

According to Mark, helping clients find the right solution to their needs is about more than just designing a building to cost, time or programme, it is about ensuring that buildings deliver for the client, the end users, the community around it and the environment too.

“When clients come to us for a building project, it’s more than just the building itself, it’s about the wider social and environmental impact of the whole project,” says Mark. “Rather than the client having to work with a wide supply chain and take the lead on coordinating the different parts of the whole project, we often serve as a ‘one stop shop’ with a full suite of services that can improve the outcome of the project and simplify the delivery for them. Our expertise is knowing the right approach – whether that’s a digital solution or use of design for manufacture and assembly techniques – and bringing that knowledge together to deliver the right outcome.”

Within the buildings business itself, there are teams specialising in structural engineering, building sciences, facades, decarbonisation and energy, technical advisory, project delivery, geotechnics and MEP, and a growing architecture team. In addition, Mark’s business can draw on the wider business for other services and, as examples of this, he points to skills including transport master planning and dealing with contaminated land.

“Having these skills within the business is key to designing buildings that operate at their maximum efficiency, which is essential for clients looking to achieve net zero while also managing operational costs,” explains Mark.

Mark also believes that having access to this range of services will be essential to making complex projects simpler to deliver.  “What we’re seeing is that it’s becoming harder and harder for clients to plan projects, get them designed and then constructed,” he says. “By bringing together all the sectors and subsectors within Mott MacDonald at an early stage, we are known for joining the dots and taking away much of the complexity. We have the capability and knowledge to bring together those skills quickly and be agile to get complex projects off the ground on time and deliver them on programme.”

Primed for growth

Helping clients get to “a great outcome sooner” is something that inspires Mark in his day-to-day work and an ethos he is working with his team on too. “I want to make a difference for our clients and for society too,” he adds. “And the desire to achieve this is something that we continually get feedback from our colleagues around too.”

Mark has structured the buildings business to focus on community and commercial buildings, defence, health and major projects. Under the new community and commercial structure Mark is supported by divisional general managers Drew Henderson and Alex Tomes in the UK with Bob Phillips covering the rest of Europe. The health and defence divisions are led by Sally Russell and Paul Harrison, respectively.

Mark is clear that his team is committed to leveraging its extensive experience and deep expertise while continuing to foster strong partnerships with clients to deliver the growth he is aiming for. “By concentrating on projects with real purpose, we aim to create lasting impacts for communities and drive sustainable growth,” he adds. “Our dedication to excellence and innovation means that as we expand our presence in the building market, we will continue to deliver with both distinction and purpose.”