Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM) was a private Australian company operating across Asia-Pacific, the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. The company had global capability in strategic consulting, engineering and project delivery. In 2013 the business was purchased by

Jacobs Jacobs may refer to: Businesses and organisations *Jacob's, a brand name for several lines of biscuits and crackers in Ireland and the UK * Jacobs (coffee), a German brand of coffee * Jacobs Solutions, an American international technical professi ...

and the brand retired.

History

Sinclair Knight Merz was founded in 1964 in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

by Bruce Sinclair and Jack Knight. In 1996 it merged with Merz Australia to form Sinclair Knight Merz.Sinclair Knight Merz – Celebrating Over 40 years
Sinclair Knight Merz In 1999, SKM merged with Kingston Morrison of New Zealand and Modus Consulting Engineers from the United Kingdom. In the early 2000s further merges occurred with HS Liao of Malaysia, Murray North of Singapore, Ingenco, and Kirkman & Bradford in Scotland. In 2004 the Overseas Projects Corporation of Victoria was purchased from the

Government of Victoria The Victoria State Government, also referred to as the Victorian Government, is the Executive (government), executive government of the Australian state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. As a parliamentary system, parliamentary constitutiona ...

along with CCD Australia. Minmetal of Chile was purchased in 2005 and HBH of

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

in 2006. In October 2011 the rail division of

Mouchel Mouchel Group, originally known as L. G. Mouchel & Partners Ltd, was an infrastructure and business services company headquartered in Woking, United Kingdom. It provided advisory, design, project delivery and managed services associated with i ...

was purchased. In September 2013

agreed terms to purchase the business with the transaction completed in December 2013 and the brand retired.

Controversies

SKM faced criminal charges between 2006 and 2011 for suspected bribing of officials in Vietnam, and between 2000 and mid-2005 in the Philippines. Jacobs became aware of conduct whilst conducting

due diligence Due diligence is the investigation or exercise of care that a reasonable business or person is normally expected to take before entering into an agreement or contract with another party or an act with a certain standard of care. Due diligence ...

ahead of it purchasing SKM and self reported to the

Australian Federal Police The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is the principal Federal police, federal law enforcement agency of the Australian Government responsible for investigating Crime in Australia, crime and protecting the national security of the Commonwealth ...

. In September 2023 the

Supreme Court of New South Wales The Supreme Court of New South Wales is the highest state court of the Australian States and territories of Australia, State of New South Wales. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil law (common law), civil matters, and hears ...

imposed a fine of $1.4 million.

Notable projects

El Teniente División El Teniente ("The Lieutenant") is an underground copper mine located in the Chilean Andes, above mean sea level. It is in the commune of Machalí in Cachapoal Province, Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins Region, near the com ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

(engineering and design) *

Hume Highway The Hume Highway, including the sections now known as the Hume Freeway and the Hume Motorway, is one of Australia's major inter-city national highways, running for between Melbourne in the southwest and Sydney in the northeast. Upgrading of t ...

, Australia (road, bridge, drainage design and environmental management) *Irrigation Modernisation Project,

Victoria, Australia Victoria, commonly abbreviated as Vic, is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state (after Tasmania), with a land area of ; the second-most-populated state (after New South Wales), with a population of over 7 million; ...

(engineering design and program management)) *

Eden Project The Eden Project () is a visitor attraction in Cornwall, England. The project is located in a reclaimed china clay clay pit, pit.Ordnance Survey (2005). ''OS Explorer Map 107 – Fowey, Looe & Lostwithiel''. . The complex is dominated by two h ...

(structural and civil design) *

Athens Olympic Stadium The Olympic Stadium of Athens "Spyridon Louis, Spyros Louis" (, ''Olympiakó Stádio Athinón "Spýros Loúis"'') is a sports stadium in Marousi, in the north section of Athens, Greece. With a total capacity of 75,000, it is the largest sports v ...

(structural design) *

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

redevelopment (seating and roof design) * Gold Coast Desalination Plant (engineering and design) *Port upgrade,

Dampier, Western Australia Dampier is a major industrial port in the Pilbara region in the northwest of Western Australia. It is located near the city of Karratha and Port Walcott. Dampier Port is part of the Dampier Archipelago and is primarily a port for the export ...

(engineering, procurement and construction management) * The Roundhouse, London (structural engineering and roof design) * Project Seabird – Indian naval base (planning, design, civil and construction supervision services) * Dublin Light Rail system (track, civil, structural and building design) * Hobart class destroyer program (detail design, marine engineering, risk management, infrastructure engineering) * Albury-Wodonga

Hume Freeway The Hume Highway, including the sections now known as the Hume Freeway and the Hume Motorway, is one of Australia's major inter-city National Highway (Australia), national highways, running for between Melbourne in the southwest and Sydney in ...

bypass (design) * Central Motorway Junction,

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, New Zealand (strategic planning and project delivery) * Sydney Desalination PlantPress Release

Aecom AECOM (, ; formerly AECOM Technology Corporation; stylised A''Ξ''COM) is an American multinational infrastructure consulting firm headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The company's official name from 1990–2015 was AECOM Technology Corporation, ...

References

{{Authority control Companies based in Sydney Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1964 Construction and civil engineering companies disestablished in 2013 Construction and civil engineering companies of Australia Consulting firms established in 1964 Consulting firms disestablished in 2013 Defunct companies of Australia Engineering consulting firms of Australia Security consulting firms 1964 establishments in Australia 2013 disestablishments in Australia