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 A public limited company (legally abbreviated to PLC or plc) is a type of public company under United Kingdom company law, some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth jurisdictions, and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is a limited liability co ...

in 2006, and in 2010 was purchased by

URS Corporation URS Corporation (formerly United Research Services) was an engineering, design, and construction firm and a U.S. federal government contractor. Headquartered in San Francisco, California, URS was a full-service, global organization with office ...

that in turn was purchased by

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, ...

History

Sir Cyril Kirkpatrick (1872–1957) was Chief Engineer to the

Port of London Authority The Port of London Authority (PLA) is a self-funding public trust established on 31 March 1909 in accordance with the Port of London Act 1908 to govern the Port of London. Its responsibility extends over the Tideway of the River Thames and its ...

from 1913 to 1924, when he established his own firm specialising in docks, harbours and sea defences. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Kirkpatrick advised on the construction of the concrete caissons which formed the

Mulberry Harbour The Mulberry harbours were two temporary portable harbours developed by the Admiralty (United Kingdom), British Admiralty and War Office during the Second World War to facilitate the rapid offloading of cargo onto beaches during the Allies of ...

that facilitated the

D-Day landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

. In 1945 engineers William Scott and Dr Guthlac Wilson founded a partnership. Between them they were responsible for the design of the

Chiswick Chiswick ( ) is a district in West London, split between the London Borough of Hounslow, London Boroughs of Hounslow and London Borough of Ealing, Ealing. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist Wi ...

and Twickenham Bridges over the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

in 1933, and the

Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London, England. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a G ...

in London. The two firms merged in 1951, forming Scott & Wilson, Kirkpatrick & Partners. In the late 1960s Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick & Partners was responsible for engineering works on the

M6 motorway The M6 motorway is the longest motorway in the United Kingdom. It is located entirely within England, running for just over from the Midlands to the border with Scotland. It begins at Junction 19 of the M1 motorway, M1 and the western end of t ...

through the Lune Gorge in north-west England. The firm grew through acquisitions over the following decades. In August 1995 the company purchased two

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...

engineering design offices in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

and

Swindon Swindon () is a town in Wiltshire, England. At the time of the 2021 Census the population of the built-up area was 183,638, making it the largest settlement in the county. Located at the northeastern edge of the South West England region, Swi ...

during the

privatisation of British Rail The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the Rail transport in Great Britain, railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, the process was largely compl ...

. Other acquisitions were in the fields of environmental consultancy, health and education property, power and mining, landscape design and engineering. In 1997 the firm adopted the name Scott Wilson, and it floated on the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

on 15 March 2006. The company acquired the civil engineering specialist Benaim Enterprise in 2008 for £5.5 million. On 10 September 2010, American engineering design firm

completed its acquisition of Scott Wilson Group plc. Scott Wilson Group plc is no longer listed in the London Stock Exchange. Scott Wilson rebranded initially as URS-Scott Wilson, though the Scott Wilson name was dropped in the UK, Ireland, Europe and the Middle East in 2012, and in India in 2013. 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 Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

and

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

Projects

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

Crossrail Crossrail is a completed railway project centred on London. It provides a high-frequency hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system, akin to the Réseau Express Régional, RER in Paris and the S-Bahn systems of German-speaking countries, kn ...

, London, UK * Combe Down Mine Stabilisation, Somerset, UK *

Spinnaker Tower The Spinnaker Tower is a landmark observation tower in Portsmouth, England. It is the centrepiece of the redevelopment of Portsmouth Harbour, which was supported by a National Lottery grant. The tower's design was chosen by Portsmouth reside ...

, Portsmouth, UK *

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 ...

, Cornwall, UK *

Waverley Line The Waverley Route was a railway line that ran south from Edinburgh, through Midlothian and the Scottish Borders, to Carlisle railway station, Carlisle. The line was built by the North British Railway; the stretch from Edinburgh to Hawick open ...

reopening, Scotland, UK * S69 Expressway, Poland * A3 (Central Greece) and A5 (Ionia Odos) motorways, Greece *

Sheremetyevo Airport Sheremetyevo International Airport (, , Internal code: ШРМ) is one of four international airports that serve the city of Moscow. It is the busiest airport in Russia and the post-Soviet states, as well as the ninth-busiest airport in Euro ...

Masterplan, Russia *

Erbil International Airport Erbil International Airport () (), is an airport in the city of Erbil in Kurdistan Region, Iraq. It is one of two international airports in the KRI, the other being Sulaymaniyah Airport, with a third in Duhok being under construction. The cur ...

, Iraq * Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor, India * Colombo Port expansion, Sri Lanka *

Wuxi Wuxi ( zh, s=无锡, p=Wúxī, ) is a city in southern Jiangsu, China. As of the 2024 census, it had a population of 7,495,000. The city lies in the southern Yangtze delta and borders Lake Tai. Notable landmarks include Lihu Park, the Mt. Lings ...

Integrated Transportation Hub, China * Nam Theun 2 Dam hydroelectric project, Laos *

Brunei International Airport Brunei International Airport (BIA) (, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: لاڤڠن تربڠ انتارابڠسا بروني ) is the primary international airport and official airport of entry; one of two airports in the Sultanate of Brunei, Brunei Darussala ...

, Brunei * Interstate 595 improvements, Florida, USA * Napier Mole Road Bridge (Jinnah Bridge), Karachi ;Hong Kong * Airport Core Programme (ACP), Hong Kong * Cross-Harbour Tunnel, Hong Kong *

Kai Tak Airport Kai Tak Airport was an international airport of Hong Kong from 1925 until 1998. Officially known as Hong Kong International Airport from 1954 to 6 July 1998, it is often referred to as Hong Kong International Airport, Kai Tak, or simply K ...

, Hong Kong * Lai Chi Kok Bridge, Hong Kong * Liu To Bridge Hong Kong *

MTR The Mass Transit Railway system, known locally by the initialism MTR, is a rapid transit system in Hong Kong and the territory's principal mode of Rail transport in Hong Kong, railway transportation. Operated by the MTR Corporation (MTRCL), ...

South Island line The South Island line () is a rapid transit line of Hong Kong's MTR metro system. This line connects the Hong Kong business district from Admiralty station to the Southern District of Hong Kong Island and the island of Ap Lei Chau, wh ...

, Hong Kong *

Plover Cove Reservoir Plover Cove Reservoir, located within Plover Cove Country Park, in the northeastern New Territories, is the largest reservoir (water), reservoir in Hong Kong in terms of area, and the second-largest in terms of volume. It is the world's first ...

, Hong Kong * Tsing Yi North Bridge, Hong Kong *

Tsuen Wan New Town Tsuen Wan New Town is a new town in Hong Kong. It spans Tsuen Wan, Kwai Chung and the eastern part of Tsing Yi Island. Traditionally, the administrative officials of Tsuen Wan managed the area of Tsuen Wan proper, Kwai Chung, Tsing Yi Is ...

, Hong Kong *

Tuen Mun New Town Tuen Mun New Town (formerly Castle Peak New Town), commonly referred to simply as Tuen Mun, is a satellite town of Hong Kong. It is one of the new towns that were developed by the Hong Kong Government in the New Territories from the 1960s. ...

, Hong Kong * Tuen Mun Road, Hong Kong

References

External links

* {{Authority control Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange Defunct engineering companies of England Design companies established in 1951 Design companies disestablished in 2010 1951 establishments in England 2010 disestablishments in England