Wedoany.com Report-Mar 12, Accenture is targeting the construction industry as an area in which it can diversify. Over the past two years it has been buying up niche construction consultancies in the USA, Canada, Spain, Italy and now the UK.
Soben offers project management consultancy, scheduling, project controls, cost and commercial management, consultancy and advisory, and carbon cost management.
It has approximately 200 staff serving clients in Western Europe, North America, Brazil, India and Australia
Accenture is particularly interested in Soben’s work on data centres – a market for which Accenture estimates an annual spend of more than $200bn for the next three-to-five years
Across the USA, Europe and the Middle East. Soben will strengthen Accenture’s capabilities for clients to address challenges when planning and executing data centre development and modernisation projects, Accenture said.
“The market for capital projects and especially data centres is growing rapidly, driven by ever-higher demand for cloud computing and AI and exponential data growth,” said Steve Roberts, senior managing director of Accenture Industry X. “Hyperscalers and co-location companies are under tremendous pressure to deliver on this demand. They need a provider that brings data centre expertise plus proven capital projects experience, which is what the combination of Soben and Accenture will stand for.”
Maddie Walker, Accenture’s Industry X lead in the UK, Ireland & Africa, added: “Soben will enhance our infrastructure and capital projects capabilities across Europe, particularly boosting our practice in the UK. With complex capital projects on the horizon, and increasing adoption of AI, the UK is positioning itself for growth – and the construction sector must ensure it has the innovative thinking, technology, and skills to lead the way. Together, Accenture and Soben bring leading minds in capital projects expertise and emerging technology together.”
Soben chief executive Scott Smyth said: “When we started Soben in 2011, our vision was to disrupt the construction consultancy marketplace, and we have now established Soben as one of the key players for capital projects in Europe and North America. By joining Accenture, we can realise that vision and offer fantastic opportunities for our people to grow their careers. We’re looking forward to bringing Accenture’s global reach and digital capabilities to our clients to help them scale their business fast and deliver exceptional outcomes for their capital projects."
