UK and Europe

A year ago UK recession looked probable, but economic performance proved better than feared.

For us, 2023 brought many new opportunities, continuing into this year. Our success in positioning for and winning new work is linked to clear strategic focus.

We know our strengths and where we can bring real benefits for our clients.

We also have the digital infrastructure, information management and global practice networks necessary to create high performing project teams.

Climate and environment

We continued to cement our leading position in this area during 2023.

There was a sharp rise in demand for our market leading nature services consultancy, integrating environment, climate and nature approaches, all with the goals of Nature Positive, the international conservation initiative, at the fore.

Society can no longer afford to operate in climate and nature silos – now is the time to respond with an integrated approach.

Impending legislation to mandate biodiversity net gain and the publication of the final Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures recommendations increased the importance of nature within the corporate agenda at both strategic and operational levels. Society can no longer afford to operate in climate and nature silos – now is the time to respond with an integrated approach.

We have worked with several clients to achieve this.

We have also remained at the forefront of initiatives that better enable the industry to take action on sustainability, as well as driving forward our own commitments. Last year saw the launch of the updated international specification for managing carbon in the built environment, PAS 2080, which was co-authored by Mott MacDonald. We were the first consultant to become accredited and are working with clients in every sector to align their businesses and projects with PAS 2080.

We were also the first consultant to provide client approved, detailed carbon data for completed construction projects to the newly developed Built Environment Carbon Database. This free to access benchmark tool for infrastructure carbon assessment provides precise calculation of the embodied carbon in all elements of a project, rather than as a single value for an overall project.

And we were the first engineering, management and development consultancy to be awarded the Social Value Management Certificate level 1 by Social Value International – securing level 2 certification in 2024.

We soft launched new resilience risk modelling and investment decision making tools, putting into practice the principles set out in the Physical Climate Risk Assessment Methodology.

To support this and our wider climate resilience work, we soft launched new resilience risk modelling and investment decision making tools. This put into practice the principles set out in the Physical Climate Risk Assessment Methodology, PCRAM, which we developed for the Coalition for Climate Resilient Investment in 2021. The tools will be developed further this year.

More widely, we have been supporting clients in building business and operational resilience as the global economy transitions into one that is low carbon. This has included working with major aviation sector players.

Modern healthcare

Our health team continues to deliver strong growth and plays a critical role in delivering better health outcomes through a focus on decarbonisation, digitalisation, performance optimisation and reconfiguration to develop more sustainable healthcare systems.

We are interim delivery partner for the New Hospital Programme (NHP), supporting the transformation of healthcare delivery in England. The NHP is not just designing and building hospitals, employing standardised design and industrialised construction techniques on an unprecedented scale, it is also rethinking solutions, relationships and requirements across all aspects of healthcare provision to transform the patient and staff experience.

In addition, we continue to play an important role in supporting the development of national health policy and guidance. We were involved in the development and launch of Net Zero Carbon Building Standards for England and Wales. We also collaborated with HSE Ireland to develop similar net zero standards, with detailed pilots on a number of Irish hospitals, as well as delivering transformation on the ground in several Scottish hospitals.

During 2023, we supported more than 40 NHS trusts with individual transformation projects, ensuring that we bring our knowledge, skills and expertise to help support the NHS with solutions to its key challenges.

Defence and security

Our business in defence, supporting complex and critical defence equipment and infrastructure programmes, continues to deliver strong growth.

We have recently been appointed as a strategic advisor at defence establishment AWE. For well over a decade, we have supported the Royal Navy’s continuous at-sea nuclear deterrence capability and are delivering infrastructure upgrade and asset management projects at Faslane in Scotland.

And at Devonport, Plymouth – the largest operational naval base in Western Europe – we are delivery partner for site owner Babcock’s 10 Dock refit and Major Infrastructure Projects programme. We are finding ways to optimise procurement as well as commercial and technical performance, to achieve best value for Babcock and the Ministry of Defence.

Energy transformation

The start of the Ukraine conflict in 2022 caused an immediate energy price shock and highlighted Europe’s lack of energy security. It has resulted in acceleration of energy projects to improve self-reliance and resilience, and at the same time to decarbonise the grid. There is no part of the energy market where we are not active, and we are playing a substantial role in developing technologies that will be key to energy transformation.

Our energy business is growing, with an expanding team across Europe of over 1200 multidisciplinary engineers, environmental and social scientists. We support our clients with delivery of both major and niche energy projects – in nuclear, network, hydropower, renewable, storage and thermal transition. We help our clients to overcome challenges with bespoke and sustainable solutions as they navigate their way through the rapid energy transformation.

NortH2 involves using electricity generated by offshore wind turbines to produce hydrogen that will be supplied for industrial use in the Netherlands. Working for a consortium of Shell, Equinor, RWE and Enco, we are studying the project’s technical feasibility.

We completed an assignment as detailed designer for the UK’s first high pressure hydrogen network.

We completed an assignment as detailed designer for the UK’s first high pressure hydrogen network in Redcar, northeast England. The project included above and below ground hydrogen storage as well as transmission and distribution pipelines to supply approximately 2000 homes and businesses. Though Northern Gas Networks has paused the project, we are applying our expertise on other hydrogen for heat projects in the UK.

NortH2 will create the world’s largest system of offshore wind farms, transmitting power onshore to produce green hydrogen by electrolysis, then transporting the hydrogen via converted gas infrastructure to industrial centres in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Paving the way for a resurgence in nuclear power, we began the process of gaining UK approval of small modular reactors (SMRs) designed by US technology provider Holtec. We are providing safety, engineering, environmental and regulatory support to Holtec Britain. It is hoped the first of Holtec’s 300MW SMRs will be operational within a decade, with multiple SMRs providing affordable electricity and heat to UK households, businesses and industrial users.

We also signed a memorandum of understanding with South Korean engineering and construction company KEPCO E&C to progress UK opportunities for large nuclear projects. We will support them in regulatory licensing, permitting and site development.

As offshore wind turbines supply an ever greater share of power, the construction of high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission infrastructure is becoming urgent. In Ireland, we are working with EirGrid to develop designs and obtain planning consents to connect two new offshore wind farms off the south coast.

Meanwhile in Scotland, Scottish & Southern Electricity Networks appointed us to two important contracts – to develop standardised designs for HVDC converters and support the development of designs for direct current circuit breakers, which are essential for protecting the transmission network from electrical faults in HVDC lines and equipment.

The UK’s Department for Energy Security & Net Zero appointed us to advise on the delivery of its carbon capture, utilisation and storage programme.

The UK’s Department for Energy Security & Net Zero appointed us, in partnership, to advise on the delivery of its carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) programme. CCUS technology plays a core part in the government’s Powering Up Britain energy security plan, unveiled in April 2023. This project complements our work on the Northern Endurance Partnership CCUS project in Teesside, started in 2022. Our expertise has been built on the UK’s first two CCUS demonstration projects as well as work in Europe, Southeast Asia and the USA.

Future transport

Mott MacDonald has a rich heritage in transport, and we have been celebrating our continued contributions. In 2023 we marked 160 years of the London Underground and the pioneering role our founders played in the design of complex tunnels and railway systems, including the invention 60 years ago of the bentonite shield which revolutionised tunnelling in poor ground. We retain our sector leading reputation and were delighted to secure the accolade of Consultancy of the Year at the NCE Tunnelling Awards in 2023.

While 2023 saw uncertainties in parts of the transport market, we continue to enjoy a strong portfolio of projects.

The Department for Transport (DfT) appointed us as its futures and foresight support advisor, embedding ‘futures thinking’ into its decision making processes. Futures thinking addresses head-on the deep uncertainties we face in society, such as the pace of transport technology and changes in user behaviour and economic growth, helping to improve the DfT’s policy shaping capabilities. The DfT first appointed us to provide futures advice in 2019, influencing policies covering rail, aviation, maritime and road, as well as decarbonisation of the UK transport system.

We were appointed as prime consultant on the DfT’s third Specialist Technical Advisory for Rail framework, STARThree. Through this, alongside our framework partners, we will provide advice on transport planning and strategy, rail operations, procurement and commercial arrangements, asset management and infrastructure investment, and programme management.

We’re helping to design and deliver an ambitious carbon reduction programme for Heathrow Airport, as it moves towards net zero by 2050.

Today, the high speed rail route between London and Birmingham is still Europe’s largest infrastructure project. Now in our 16th year of involvement and with much of Phase 1 not yet complete, HS2 remains one of our key projects. There were many milestones last year: construction ramped up in the West Midlands, headlined by three large bridge slides in the space of three weeks, involving bridges between 2600t and 6200t; construction of the approach to Birmingham Curzon Street Station progressed quickly in preparation for work on the station itself; and our work was recognised through eight different industry awards.

Together with our partners, we won multiple major contracts for the UK’s largest highways project, the Lower Thames Crossing. It will be the longest road tunnel in the UK, stretching 4.2km and supported by around 22.9km of new roads and 50 new bridges and viaducts. By doubling the road capacity east of London, it could add billions of pounds of additional economic benefits for the country.

Advanced air mobility (AAM) using electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, will become an important component in flexible, resilient and low carbon transport systems globally. Through a partnership formed in 2023 with UrbanV, a leader in vertiport design and management, we are exploring opportunities for AAM internationally. We provided the programme and project management expertise required to launch an innovative AAM drone services demonstration project, Open Skies Cornwall. It is developing ‘sky highways’ to deliver goods such as medicine and mail to remote coastal and island communities.

We started a five-year role as programme designer for Heathrow Airport’s carbon and sustainability programme, which is aiming to reduce annual emissions by 2.3Mt by the end of 2026. Reductions will be achieved across airport operations, surface access, aviation fuel, energy generation and storage and efficiency, and will include behavioural change as well as the use of nature based solutions.

Water resilience

The water sector in the UK and Ireland continues to wrestle with some of society’s biggest challenges in the face of climate change and population growth. Mitigating the impacts of flooding and coastal erosion, supporting more biodiverse environments, and delivering long term water security requires significant levels of investment within tight delivery schedules.

Our growing team, now more than 2000 strong, are provided with agile resources dedicated to addressing these challenges. Supporting the regulatory business plan submissions for multiple water companies enabled them to focus on securing better outcomes for customers and the environment.

We helped water companies in the water-stressed south and east of England to plan and deliver on water resilience plans, identifying options that provide the best value to society and the environment – rather than simply the lowest cost. In addition, Mott MacDonald Bentley, our design and build business, began construction of the Springwell service reservoir for Northumbrian Water, the largest we’ve ever designed, which will help secure water supplies for more than 50,000 customers in the area.

We secured numerous long term commissions cementing our position as trusted advisor to the sector. As a strategic partner on the Uisce Éireann’s Capital Works Project Management Office Framework, we are delivering comprehensive services across a programme vital for maintaining and improving the country’s water infrastructure.

We are also providing the preliminary design, planning and environmental preparation for Affinity Water and Severn Trent Water, with support from the Canal & River Trust, on a water transfer scheme via the Grand Union Canal designed to help safeguard water supply in southeast England.

Our work on Europe’s largest water project, Thames Tideway in London, continued during 2023. With the completion of the tunnel in 2022, our focus in 2023 was on testing, commissioning and integration.