The firm said the mutually beneficial partnership will foster a new level of openness, collaboration and innovation never before seen within the construction industry.

The Partnership will focus Balfour Beatty’s procurement of design consultants for its projects towards Atkins, Mott MacDonald and WSP with standard terms and conditions. A community of practice will bring designers and engineers from the four companies together to find solutions in key areas such as health and safety through design, value engineering and the use of more cost-effective design resources.

Customers will benefit from earlier engagement with a co-ordinated collaborative team and improved, consistent working practices which will ultimately reduce construction and programme costs.

The operation will be led by Balfour Beatty’s newly-appointed Strategic Design Consultant Partnership director, Robin Bashford. Robin will be responsible for implementing the Partnership working with the three design consultants to deliver increased value to customers. Prior to his appointment, Robin held a senior work winning role within Balfour Beatty’s Major Projects business and has been with the company since 2013.

Stephen Tarr, managing director for Balfour Beatty’s Major Projects business and executive committee sponsor for the Partnership, said “This newly formed Strategic Design Consultant Partnership represents collaboration in its purest form. Providing a new and refreshed way of working between contractor and designer, I am delighted to announce that we are joining together with Atkins, Mott MacDonald and WSP to deliver the very best of the industry’s ability and capability to provide a complete, refined and Expert offering to our customers.

“This Partnership will draw on decades of industry experience and combine it with the modern-day technological expertise of our engineers and designers to deliver a truly Lean, Expert, Trusted and Safe way of working together as an industry.”

Mike McNicholas, managing director of Atkins’ Infrastructure division, said: “Infrastructure investment continues to be a high priority for the UK, but clients couldn’t be clearer in their message to industry that we need to deliver it differently to provide better value and outcomes for them, their end users and those funding the projects. A greater use of technology is widely acknowledged as one way of doing this, but equally as important will be industry leading companies coming together to innovate and collaborate more effectively. This Partnership is an exciting step forward in achieving these goals.”

Stephen Lawrence, Mott MacDonald’s design partnership director, said: “Our collaboration with Balfour Beatty goes back nearly 35 years and we’re looking forward to building an even stronger working relationship. We’ve worked together to successfully deliver some of the UK’s most well-known infrastructure such as Heathrow T2B, A3 Hindhead and London Underground’s Jubilee Line Extension, and our joint venture Balfour Beatty Mott MacDonald continues to provide service excellence in the highways maintenance industry.”

“This strategic partnership will provide access to our global network of experts to offer new ideas, drive value and efficiency into the design process and fully support their ‘Build to Last’ transformation programme,” Stephen added.

Alistair Kennedy, WSP’s executive director responsible for the new partnership, said: “We are delighted to have been selected by Balfour Beatty as a strategic partner. Our two companies already work closely together across a wide spectrum of projects and WSP is excited to have the opportunity to be part of this innovative and collaborative approach. We look forward to working together to challenge the status quo for design build contracting in the UK.”