Sinclair Knight Merz

Infobox_Company
company_name = Sinclair Knight Merz Pty. Ltd.
company_
company_type = Private Limited Company
foundation = Australia (1996)
location = Sydney, Australia
key_people = Paul Dougas, CEO Peter Scott, Chairman
industry = Engineering, sciences and project delivery
revenue = $861 million AUD (2006-07)
num_employees = 6000 (2007)
homepage = http://www.skmconsulting.com

Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM) is an engineering, sciences and project delivery firm. It is based in Australia but has offices in New Zealand, Europe, the Middle East, South America and Asia.

Overview

The firm has approximately 6000 staff working in 47 offices around the world. [cite web|title=SKM Corporate Report 2007|publisher=SKMThe Roundhouse|url=http://www.skmconsulting.com/publications/2007.htm|accessdate=November 28|accessyear=2007] This workforce represents a range of disciplines including engineers, planners, architects, economists, scientists, project managers, technicians and administrative staff. The business is wholly owned by approximately 500 staff members in a partnership arrangement.

In the fiscal year 2006-07 the firm’s financial revenue was AUS$861 million. [Australian Financial Review 30 November, 2007 ]

SKM’s operations are divided into four broad “Business Units”:

*Buildings & Infrastructure
*Power & Industry
*Resources
*Water & Environment

Various technical disciplines sit within these broad categories. For example, specialist rail and tunnelling staff are based in the Buildings & Infrastructure Business Unit.

An umbrella “Group” division contains teams responsible for specific project delivery skills, such as risk management, safety and economic planning.

History

The Sinclair & Knight practice was established in Sydney Australia in 1964 by Bruce Sinclair and Jack Knight. The firm grew rapidly over the next 30 years, and in 1996 it merged with Merz Australia (A firm descended from the Merz & McLellan business begun by Charles Merz) to form Sinclair Knight Merz. [cite web|title=Sinclair Knight Merz - Celebrating Over 40 years
publisher=SKM|url=http://www.skmconsulting.com/about/Sinclair_Knight_Merz_Celebrating_40_years.htm|accessdate=November 28|accessyear=2007|date=17 June 2005] A series of mergers over the following ten years saw the firm’s continued expansion in size, geography and services.

Major clients

SKM works with public and private sector clients across all its Business Units. Some of its major clients are:

*BHP Billiton
*Rio Tinto Group
*Boral
*Multiplex
*Leighton Holdings
*Exxon Mobil
*Australian Department of Defence
*Various state-owned and private water, power, road, rail and transport businesses.

ignificant projects

Among many thousands of other projects, SKM’s services have been utilised in the following endeavours:

*The Eden Project (structural and civil design) [cite web|title=Calling Planet Earth - The Da Vinci Code building has landed|publisher=The Eden project|url=http://www.edenproject.com/about/1201.html|accessdate=November 27|accessyear=2007]
*Athens Olympic Stadium (structural design) [cite web|title=The Roof Of The Olympic Stadium For The 2004 Athens Olympic Gamnes: from Concept to Implementation|publisher=Prof. Spiro N. Pollalis, Harvard Design School|url=http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/people/faculty/pollalis/cases/OACA-v1.pdf|accessdate=November 27|accessyear=2007|format=PDF]
*Wembley Stadium redevelopment (seating and roof design) [cite web|title=Building Wembley|publisher=Wembley Stadium|url=http://www.wembleystadium.com/brilliantfuture/theArch/PeopleBehindTheArch/constructionDesignCompanies.htm|accessdate=November 27|accessyear=2007]
*Gold Coast desalination plant (engineering and design) [cite web|title=The Gold Coast Desalination project|publisher=GCD Alliance|url=http://www.desalinfo.com.au/The_Project.asp##Alliance|accessdate=November 27|accessyear=2007]
*Port upgrade, Dampier Western Australia (engineering, procurement and construction management) [cite web|title=2006 Winners|publisher=Engineers Australia WA Division|url=http://www.wa.engineersaustralia.org.au/exaw/winners.html|accessdate=November 28|accessyear=2007]
*The Roundhouse (London) (structural engineering and roof design) [cite web|title=Architects and Design team|publisher=The Roundhouse|url=http://www.roundhouse.org.uk/about/people-at-the-roundhouse/architects-and-design-team|accessdate=November 28|accessyear=2007]
*Project Seabird – Indian naval base (planning, design, civil and construction supervision services) [cite web|title=Project Seabird Shiplift Civil Works - Key Design Issues|publisher=Coasts and Ports: Coastal Living - Living Coast; Australasian Conference 2005; Proceedings
url=http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=492226608941035;res=IELENG|accessdate=November 28|accessyear=2007]
*Dublin Light Rail system (track, civil, structural and building design) [cite web|title=Dublin Luas Light Rail network|publisher=railway-technology.com|url=http://www.railway-technology.com/projects/dublin/|accessdate=November 28|accessyear=2007]
*Australian Air Warfare Destroyer program (detail design, marine engineering, risk management, infrastructure engineering) [cite web|title=SKM Joins Defence Skilling Program|publisher=Australian Minsiter for Defence|url=http://www.minister.defence.gov.au/Billsontpl.cfm?CurrentId=6152|accessdate=November 28|accessyear=2007]
*Albury-Wodonga Hume Freeway bypass (design) [cite web|title=Delivering Better Roads|publisher=Australian Road Forum "Road News" April/May 2007|url=http://www.roads.org.au/document/send/36|accessdate=November 28|accessyear=2007]
*Central Motorway Junction, Auckland, New Zealand (strategic planning and project delivery) [cite web|title=CMJ - Timeline|publisher=Central Motorway Improvements - Transit NZ|url=http://cmi.transit.govt.nz/html/cmj/timeline.htm|accessdate=November 28|accessyear=2007]

References

* [http://www.skmconsulting.com/publications/2007.htm 2007 SKM Corporate Report]

External links

* [http://www.skmconsulting.com Sinclair Knight Merz]