Top 150 consultants 2021

Read Dave Rogers’s analysis: Top 150 Consultants 2021 – a world of change

Top 150 Consultants 2021
Rank Total UK chartered staffTotal UK staffWorldwide staffAnnual UK fees (£’000)Offices
2021 rank2019 rankFirm2021202020212020202120202020/21 financial year2019/20 financial yearUK
1 8 WSP1 3,981 4,237 6,854 7,679 47,157 49,759 £515,800 £572,300 38
2 1 Mott MacDonald Group 3,673 3,699 7,059  7,252 15,501 16,264 £868,000 £792,000 27
3 2 Aecom 2,588 2,590 6,679 7,159 47,000 56,000 N/A £721,200 33
4 6 Arcadis 2,319 N/A 3,881 N/A 27,939 N/A £462,000 £490,000 26
5 3 Arup2 2,126 2,109 5,915 6,180 15,959 16,461 £685,600 £728,400 15
6 4 Turner & Townsend 2,093 2,056 2,907 2,912 6,801 6,789 £272,987 £283,307 16
7 9 Ramboll3 775 774 1,286 1,295 16,000 15,000 £113,900 £122,300 16
8 10 Gardiner & Theobald 679 719 867 927 1,029 1,092 £161,000 £169,000 8
9 12 Gleeds 647  583  1,196 1,057 2,241 2,073 N/A £98,000 22
10 11 BDP 546 519 947 845 1,312 1,195 £81,302 £87,960 10
11 new RPS Consulting Services  501 438 1,155 1,058 5,320  5,110 N/A £87,090 28
12 13 Rider Levett Bucknall  449  410  710 652 4,000 3,900  £73,500 £80,600 12
13 14 Foster + Partners 427  391  1,244 1,218  1,491  1,450 £200,000 £233,000 1
14 15 Pick Everard  406 370  583  542  583  542  £58,564  £52,203  13
15 17 Buro Happold4 392  366  970 970 1,932  1,830 £93,400  £97,300  5
16 18 Currie & Brown 379  361  537  537 1,977  2,007  £66,000  £56,800 17
17 19 CBRE5 377 365 3,706 3,706  101,728 101,728  N/A £394,025 16
18 16 Hoare Lea 374 396  934 858 934 858  N/A £79,300 12
19 52 Colliers 373 N/A 929 N/A 18,400  N/A N/A £98,316 14
20 21 Ridge and Partners6 357 350 639 634 639  634  £58,000  £60,000  12
21 22 Allford Hall Monaghan Morris 299 285 500 519 512 531 £42,000 £52,100 2
22 20 Systech  278 266 311 298 617 589 N/A N/A 3
23 25 Cundall 250 212 744 636 997 955 £34,000 £34,700 6
24 28 CPC Project Services 196 183 228 211 228  211  £21,013 £22,419  7
25 26 Allies and Morrison 191 N/A 326 N/A 327 N/A £28,498 N/A 4
26 new Pell Frischmann 189 180 443 414 445 417  £47,234 £45,960 11
27 29 Stride Treglown 182  175  351  332  351 332  £20,753  £21,639  9
28 27 NPS Group 174  183  540  682  540  682  N/A £94,040 13
29 new Sheppard Robson  163  185 313 370 313  370  £25,345  £29,108 3
30 30 Hollis 160  152  387  410 414 434 £36,100  £36,900 19
31 new HDR 156  130  270  219 10,285 10,172 £29,844  £29,364 6
32 33 TP Bennett  147  152 351  336 351 336 £28,260  £28,750 3
33 32 Hilson Moran  131  141  204 220 N/A N/A £18,100 £18,800 4
34 40 Assent Building Control 121 120 256 272 256 272 £25,900 £19,600 62
35 new Purcell 119 111 194 188 212 203 £17,450 £18,600 11
36 new Calfordseaden 118 110 313 280 313 280 £26,141 £25,789 6
37 44= Hydrock7 116 86 558 435 558 435 £42,000 £39,000 18
38 39 HTA Design 113 94 247 219 247 219 £15,900 £13,600 4
39= new Cumming Group EMEA8 111 48 147 67 1,150 937 £21,737 £9,952 5
39= 44= EPR Architects 111 103 197 178 268 242 £19,500 £17,400 2
39= 31 Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios 111 119 180 224 180 224 £14,468 £16,681 4
39= 57 Ryder Architecture 111 96 242 188 280 213 £22,000 £17,200 4
43 34 AHR 110 N/A 246 N/A 265 N/A £28,000 £31,000 8
44 49= Ingleton Wood 102 97 215 200 215 200 £16,486 £16,936 5
45 35 Curtins Consulting 100 107 323 424 323 424 £28,800 £28,200 13
46 new Corstorphine & Wright9 98 90 174 194 177 197 £16,900 £16,700 10
47 36 Stace 95 98 168 172 168 172 £18,951 £19,651 5
48 54 AKT II 90 94 347 366 347 366 £25,600 £23,660 3
49= 47 Tuffin Ferraby Taylor 84 N/A 144 N/A 144 N/A £18,400 £17,500 7
49= 41= WT Partnership 84 88 163 153 1,400 1,350 £15,500 £13,642 11
51= 49= HLM Architects 83 74 181 176 181 176 £10,300 £12,480 6
51=  42 Paragon Building Consultancy 83 93 131 155 131 155 £18,900 £20,400 6
53 49= Core Five 82 74 126 123 126 123 £13,500 £14,100 2
54 new Kier Business Services10 81 88 170 200 170 200 £14,822 £17,600 5
55 59= AA Projects 80 63 165 145 165 145 £16,810 £13,891 8
56 55 Schofield Lothian 76 73 86 88 86 88 £9,100 £8,500 2
57= new Henry Riley 74 57 189 168 192 171 £14,000 £18,000 9
57= new Kendall Kingscott 74 72 165 150 165 150 £11,300 £10,300 5
59 46 Pellings 69 79 138 127 138 127 £12,200 £11,300 4
60= 67= 3DReid 67 78 99 124 99 124 £6,500 £8,043 5
60= 56 Baily Garner 67 58 195 178 195 178 £13,200 £12,700 2
60= 64= Robert Bird & Partners 67 64 215 202 632 656 £21,200 £20,600 2
63 66 Alinea Consulting 66 65 104 105 104 105 £14,400 £16,100 1
64 new Buckley Gray Yeoman 65 65 84 92 84 92 £9,000 £9,000 2
65 88 Fulkers Bailey Russell 64 50 120 97 120 97 £8,910 £9,900 7
66 80= Ward Williams Associates  63 53 120 102 120 102 £9,300 £8,200 7
67 72 Bailey Partnership 62 53 101 92 101 92 £7,200 £6,900 5
68 new JMArchitects  59 63 94 102 N/A 102 £5,800 £5,800 4
69 80= Artelia UK11 58 56 109 119 N/A N/A £15,528 £12,825 2
70 79 ECE Group 57 50 95 91 95 91 £6,500 £6,370 3
71 53 Broadway Malyan 56 80 121 172 338 394 £9,000 £16,000 4
72= 77= Atkins Walters & Webster12 55 63 71 94 71 94 £4,950 £7,600 3
72= 62= Potter Raper  55 65 173 168 173 168 £15,900 £15,333 5
74= 70= Clancy Consulting13 54 N/A 201 N/A 201 N/A £12,400 £14,100 10
74= 80= Whittam Cox Architects14 54 45 138 119 138 119 N/A £7,295 3
76 91= LSI Architects 51 53 82 84 82 84 £4,281 £5,015 2
77= new Bidwells 50 44 83 72 83 72 £9,400 £8,400 8
77= 67= CampbellReith 50 54 138 151 138 151 £13,034 £12,300 5
77= 74= Price & Myers 50 56 146 182 146 182 £13,832 £14,509 4
80= 90 P+HS Architects 49 50 77 77 77 77 £5,111 £4,959 3
80= 84= Pozzoni Architecture 49 50 57 60 57 60 £3,715 £4,667 2
82= 98 Pulse Consult15 47 34 49 34 49 34 £4,100 £2,500 6
82= 76 Robinson Low Francis 47 51 95 102 95 102 £10,000 £10,000 5
82= 77= Trident Building Consultancy16 47 51 72 76 76 80 £7,296 £8,572 8
85 124= Civic Engineers 46 29 135 91 135 91 £7,615 £6,332 4
86 87 Aukett Swanke 45 45 77 93 294 N/A £6,990 £7,379 1
87= 100= Martin Arnold 44 39 110 91 110 91 £8,720 £6,525 3
87= 89 Thomas and Adamson 44 43 79 84 N/A 150 £6,903 £7,615 3
87= new Watts Group 44 35 74 75 74 75 £10,000 £9,200 7
90 61 Elliott Wood Partnership 43 44 106 101 106 101 £9,772 £9,883 3
91= 80= John Rowan and Partners 42 42 84 88 84 88 £7,400 £7,930 2
91= 118= Walker Sime 42 33 73 62 73 6 £6,549 £5,652 3
93= new Troup Bywaters + Anders 41 36 244 232 244 232 £19,889 £17,899 7
93= new Buttress Architects 41 32 56 46 56 46 £3,450 £2,959 1
95= 105= Kam Project Consultants  40 32 60 43 63 44 £7,840 £5,800 3
95= 134 RG+P 40 43 96 104 96 104 £4,373 £5,230 3
97 111= Airey Miller 37 28 83 59 83 59 £5,700 £5,600 4
98 94 Procom Construction Consultants  36  31 43 38 43  38 £1,600 £2,200 2
99= new Frankham Consultancy Group 35 26 141 137 141 137 £14,236 £11,865 4
99= 91= Holder Mathias 35 35 45 47 45 47 £3,800 £4,000 2
99= 115= Summers-Inman 35 26 98 104 98 104 £10,030 £11,300 6
102 122= Exigere Project Services 34 28 57 43 57 43 £5,520 £4,600 1
103= 95= Meinhardt (UK)17 32 36 107 91 5,000 4,500 £10,600 £9,600 2
103= 84= Stockwool 32 36 48 54 48 54 £3,770 £3,636 1
105 new Faithorn Farrell Timms 31 29 100 86 100 86 £10,660 £11,600 4
106 new Conisbee 30 35 55 60 55 60 £5,676 £7,986 3
107= 122= ETL 29 23 83 78 83 78 £9,500 £8,800 2
107= 105= Thomson Gray 29 27 50 45 50 45 £4,690 £4,560 5
109= new ECD Architects 28 22 52 40 52 40 £3,933 £4,301 2
109= 95= Leslie Clark Construction Consultants 28 33 46 63 46 63 £5,700 £7,500 4
109= 97 Rex Procter and Partners 28 27 68 72 68 72 £7,123 £7,321 4
112 105= NRP18 27 N/A 64 N/A N/A N/A £7,041 £6,426 4
113= 118= Gray Baynes Shaw 25 25 27 27 27 27 £2,600 £2,500 1
113= 132= Imagile Professional Services19 25 24 53 52 53 52 £7,580 £7,055 6
115= 103= Keegans 24 22 44 39 44 39 £3,400 £3,600 2
115= 99 RH Partnership Architects 24 27 34 47 34 47 £3,755 £2,966 3
117 111= Concertus20 23 24 149 132 149 132 £12,200 £15,00 2
118 new Doig+Smith 22 28 53 65 53 65 £4,243 £5,774 3
119= 100= DSSR 21 25 79 80 79 80 £7,210 £6,462 3
119= 143= Rolton Group 21 20 65 63 65 63 N/A £5,160 4
121= 109= K2 Consultancy 20 26 23 31 23 31 £2,300 £2,100 2
121= 129= Webb Yates Engineers 20 19 53 50 53 50 £4,300 £4,300 3
123= 126= Noviun 19 17 38 34 38 34 £3,400 £2,800 1
123= 126= Synergy 19 21 81 80 81 80 £6,035 £6,166 3
125= new Daniel Connal Partnership 18 18 33 33 33 33 N/A N/A 3
125= new Edmond Shipway 18 19 35 33 35 33 £4,688 £5,119 5
125= 128 Elements Consulting 18 18 73 73 712 712 £7,200 £7,300 2
128 new Baqus Group21 17 20 29 44 29 44 £3,900 £5,000 6
129 140 Hargreaves Jones 16 15 39 34 39 34 £3,780 £3,100 1
130= 137= Anderton Gables 15 12 34 26 34 26 £2,504 £2,002 4
130= new BuroFour Project Services 15 15 32 32 65 65 £8,571 £9,400 6
130= new Castons 15 9 49 35 49 35 £9,070 £5,660 2
133= 143= Blackburn & Co 14 11 19 16 19 16 £4,056 £3,395 1
133= 129= Chaplin Farrant 14 15 23 28 23 28 £1,717 £2,091 2
133= new Identity Consult 14 N/A 53 N/A 53 N/A £4,800 £3,600 3
136 141= Christopher Smith Associates 13 13 39 38 39 38 N/A £3,737 3
137= new Provelio22 12 12 21 18 21 18 £2,050 £1,720 2
137= new Rund Partnership 12 15 60 67 60 67 £5,375 £5,589 3
137= new Solomons Europe 12 7 59 49 59 49 £4,250 £4,140 5
140 new Method Consulting23 11 7 45 46 45 46 £2,864 £3,262 3
141= 150 3Sixty Real Estate 10 8 12 8 12 8 £1,380 £1,250 1
141= new Powell Tolner & Associates24 10 8 51 45 51 45 £3,250 £3,000 1
141= 148= Services Design Solution 10 9 65 58 65 58 £5,600 £4,300 3
141= new Taylor Lewis 10 10 43 32 43 32 £3,750 £2,570 3
141= 145= Vextrix Management 10 8 36 21 36 21 £2,847 £2,707 3
146= new David Miles and Partners 8 8 22 19 22 19 £1,361 £1,271 1
146= new MacConvilles 8 6 18 14 18 14 £1,305 £1,174 1
146= new ST1 Group 8 14 32 57 32 57 £1,700 £3,100 3
149= new Griffiths Evans 7 4 11 7 11 7 £1,100 £983 1
149= 141= Qoda Consulting 7 8 58 70 58 70 £4,200 £5,400 3

Methodology and notes

More than 350 firms were contacted for this year’s Building Top 150 Consultants Survey, the results of which are shown in the tables above. They were sent a survey form asking for details on the number of chartered staff, non-chartered and technical staff, and domestic and worldwide fee incomes. Practices were also asked questions relating to: staff recruitment, wage patterns, margins, areas of work, and work expectations. 

All data in the tables are taken directly from firms’ replies. As there was no Top 150 survey published in 2020 for covid-related reasons, where a company is marked “new“ that means it was not in the 2019 Top 150 rankings.

The survey does not claim to list all the top consultants, as it relies upon firms completing and returning the annual survey form. For a variety of reasons, firms sometimes decide not to take part. Only those firms completing and returning the survey form are included in the survey.  Firms having any questions about the survey, or wishing to be included in the 2022 survey, should contact Martin Hewes at Hewes & Associates: www.hewes-associates.com.  

NB: “New” is used to mean that the company was not in the 2019 Top 150 consultants table.

Notes

1 WSP: Global acquisition of Golder will lead to integration of Golder UK subsidiary.

2 Arup: Latest financial data are provisional and unaudited.

3 Ramboll: Latest financials are draft.

4 Buro Happold: Amalgamated several companies into Buro Happold.

5 CBRE: CBRE restructured on a service line basis.

6 Ridge and Partners: Small acquisition in January 2020.

7 Hydrock: Acquired Kelly Taylor & Associates in March 2020, which has added around 20 staff and 2 locations to operations.

8 Cumming Group EMEA: In Feb 2020, TowerEight was acquired by Cumming Group.

9 Corstophine & Wright: 2021 financial data are estimates.

10 Kier Business Services: A significant contract TUPE was transferred back to the client at the start of this year, which has had a significant impact on the difference in revenue and staff figures between this year and last year.

11 Artelia UK: Acquisition of Austin Newport Group completed in 2020.

12 Atkins Walters & Webster: Latest financial data are unaudited.

13 Clancy Consulting: Latest financial data covers 2019/2020.

14 Whittam Cox Architects: Acquisition of Scottish timber-frame specialist, DBM Consulting.

15 Pulse Consult: Moving to a regional structure has resulted in further synergies across the business.

16 Trident Building Consultancy: Figures include joint venture with Emerald PM.

17 Meinhardt (UK): Latest financial data are estimated.

18 NRP: Latest financial data are estimated.

19 Imagile Professional Services: Acquisition of Capitec.

20 Concertus: In September 2020 a subsidiary, a joint venture with Derbyshire county council, was set up – TUPE 36 staff and £1.1m for 2020/2021.

21 Baqus Group: Closed Oxford office.

22 Provelio: Latest results are partially estimated.

23 Method Consulting: Latest financial data are estimates.

24 Powell Tolner & Associates: Estimated fee income for 2021.