Buchanan Consulting Engineers

CAPITA SYMONDS ACQUIRES BUCHANAN CONSULTING ENGINEERS

Capita Symonds and Colin Buchanan and Partners have today announced the purchase by Capita Symonds of the entire share capital of Buchanan Consulting Engineers, previously a separate development and transport planning consultancy part-owned by the Colin Buchanan Group.

Buchanan Consulting Engineers Ltd, a leading development and transport planning consultancy with 55 staff in London and Newbury and a turnover of £5m will now operate under the Capita Symonds name. The consultancy will further strengthen Capita Symonds Development Planning business, which is currently involved in Liverpool’s £750m Paradise Street development and London’s 2012 Olympic bid. At the same time, the acquisition will enable Colin Buchanan and Partners to reduce the current overlap of service provision between Buchanan Consulting Engineers and its own strong Development Planning team, currently advising major developers throughout the UK and Ireland from 9 offices.

Colin Buchanan and Partners will continue to operate as an independent consultancy in development, planning and transport.

David Robertson, Capita Symonds Executive Director of Transport, commented,” The acquisition of Buchanan Consulting Engineers offers a very significant enhancement to our business and reinforces our position as one of the leading transport and infrastructure planning consultancies. Buchanan Consulting Engineers has many exceptional people within its business, and as part of Capita Symonds we will continue our vision of building success around our people and our clients.”

Colin Buchanan’s chairman, Malcolm Buchanan said, “The Directors of Colin Buchanan are committed to continued independence of the company, and in our 40th year of business we look forward with our highly successful staff share ownership scheme to even further expansion. This agreement removes any confusion that results from having two companies in the Group both doing much the same type of work, and provides additional capital to fund Colin Buchanan's expansion strategy, which focuses on key areas including development planning for the property industry.”

For further information please contact:

Capita Press Office 0870 2400 488
Clare Matthews, Marketing Manager, Colin Buchanan and Partners
Contact: 0207 309 7016 / clare.matthews@cbuchanan.co.uk

Notes to Editors:

Buchanan Consulting Engineers is a leading consultancy specialising in advice to the property development industry. Its specialisms include development planning, transport solutions and infrastructure design.

With offices in London in Newbury recent projects include the Vodafone World Headquarters in Newbury and the Grand Union Village in Southall.

Further information on Buchanan Consulting Engineers can be found on this site.

Capita Symonds, part of FTSE100 The Capita Group Plc, provides a broad range of professional services covering the design, engineering, construction, infrastructure and property markets. With 3,300 staff in 45 UK offices and a projected turnover of £160m Capita Symonds is one of the UK’s largest multidisciplinary consultancies with a comprehensive and diverse project portfolio.

Capita Symonds was formed by merger of Capita Property Consultancy and Symonds Group, launched on 1st June 2004.

Further information on Capita Symonds can be found at: www.capitasymonds.co.uk

Colin Buchanan and Partners, is one of the largest independent consultancies in transport, planning, urban design, economics and related software, with some 200 staff in 9 offices in the UK and Ireland and a turnover of some £15 million, and was not included in the acquisition. Colin Buchanan and Partners previously owned a minority 32% of the share capital of Buchanan Consulting Engineers.

This sale enables Colin Buchanan to concentrate on its core business of providing independent specialist advice to private and pubic sector clients, and removes some of the previous overlap of services within the Colin Buchanan Group. The sale also provides additional capital to fund Colin Buchanan's expansion strategy, which focuses on key areas including development planning for the property industry.

Further information on Colin Buchanan and Partners can be found at www.cbuchanan.co.uk