Professional services giant Accenture has acquired Glasgow-based construction consultancy Soben.
Founded in 2011, the company's services have since expanded to include project management consultancy, scheduling, project controls, cost and commercial management, advisory and carbon cost management.
With a team of 250, it serves clients across the UK and into Germany, the Netherlands and Scandinavia, as well as the US, Mexico, Brazil, India and Australia.
According to a statement, Accenture did the deal to add expertise in data centre development, as well as pharmaceutical and energy sector specialisms, to boost its capital project capabilities, as well as project, cost and commercial management for clients.
“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 at 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.”
The move will see Soben’s employees join Accenture’s infrastructure and capital projects practice within Industry X.
“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,” stated chief executive Scott Smyth. “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.”
Accenture started scaling the Industry X business in 2023 with the acquisition of advisory and management company Anser Advisory in the US, and consulting and program management company Comtech in Canada.
In 2024, it added BOSLAN, a management services provider focused on net zero infrastructure in Spain, and IQT Group, a provider of engineering managed services for infrastructure projects, based in Italy.
Source: insider.co.uk