Supporting the development of Stantec’s transport service offering and the growth of the UK transport team, his role will see him working with major clients, contractors and local authorities across the country to deliver high profile transport projects.

Mr Owens joins Stantec from Sweco where he held the role of major projects director, delivering the Highways England DIP programme for Galliford Try, Graham Construction and Osborne. He has a long history with Sweco, beginning his career there before moving to WSP to lead its infrastructure operations in Scotland, Manchester and the North.

While at WSP, John also gained experience of delivering large Design and Build (D&B) rail projects and international work in the Middle East. He then returned to Sweco to assume the role of director for the design and consultancy services and lead the organic growth of the UK business. During his time there, he grew the design and consultancy team from 120 to 250 while establishing transport teams in new locations; Stockton, London, Bristol, Cardiff, Manchester and Cork.

He said: “I’m delighted to be joining Stantec. We are sixth in the world for transportation and have worked on projects that have made a difference for communities all over the globe. I’m looking forward to building on the already great relationships we have with our clients and making sure we bring our global experience to major projects here in the UK. The UK team is one of the strongest I’ve ever worked with and I think we can achieve great things.”

John has worked on several major D&B projects throughout the UK and Ireland including the Dublin Port Tunnel, Northern Ireland DBFO1, West Coast Power Upgrade, AWPR and the iconic new Queensferry Crossing that links Edinburgh with Fife. As part of a joint venture, John led the Sweco input into the CDF which successfully tendered and won several major highway schemes including the A47 Programme, A1 Scotswood, M3 and M27 Smart Motorways, M20 Lorry Park and the A96 in Scotland.  

Commenting on his appointment, Dougie McDonald, regional director (UK) transport, Stantec, said: “John will be a great addition to our team. He brings his wealth of experience and excellent reputation to Stantec at a time when we are growing our offering and our team. I’m confident he will be able to shape and accelerate that growth and deliver the best possible outcomes for our current and future clients.”

The Stantec UK Transport team is working on several major projects, including HS2, the A27 and A30, has been appointed to the Highways England Technical Engineering Framework (SPaTS2), and has developed the Scottish National Transport Strategy with Transport Scotland. Stantec also provides design support to VolkerFitzpatrick on the Highways England DIP programme and is currently engaged on the M3 J9 scheme.