A CONSTRUCTION and management consultancy which began life in Darlington more than 50 years ago now has 36 offices and more than 1,000 staff in 24 countries around the globe. Business Correpsondent Jonathan Jones spoke to Tom Harrison, managing director of Turner and Townsend International about the group's success.

THE presentation of the Queen's Award for Enterprise recognised just how far Turner and Townsend International has come.

The construction and management consultancy began in the Tees Valley in 1946, opening its head office in Darlington in 1948.

That office closed five years ago, when the company moved its headquarters to Leeds.

Tom Harrison, managing director of Turner and Townsend international division (TTI), said: "The decision was taken to close our Darlington offices and move to a more central location in Leeds.

"We already have offices in Newcastle and in Stockton, and felt these adequately covered the north and south of the region."

Mr Harrison, 48, has been with TTI for more than 25 years, "man and boy" as he puts it, initially joining the Darlington office in a summer job in 1974, when he was starting out on a quantity surveying degree at Newcastle Polytechnic, now Northumbria University.

He joined the business proper in 1977 after the completion of his course.

He lists project management of the Nissan car plant in Sunderland and the establishment of the car company's European headquarters in Amsterdam as two of the highlights of his career.

He was also instrumental in the roll-out and branding of Nissan dealerships across the US and Europe.

The father of two, who also worked in the Glasgow office for 18 years, became managing director of TTI in 1999.

He said: "The presentation of the Queens Award for Enterprise by Prince Andrew to our chairman TimWray, at our Leeds headquarters, was special. It sets us apart from our competitors, and proves we have the people with the skills to tackle projects of any scale around the world.

"It was recognition for the tremendous growth achieved by the group over the past three years."

The Queen's Award for Enterprise was the second award won by the company this year, having been presented with the Project Manager of the Year Award in this year's Building Awards.

The awards cap three years of sustained expansion for the international division of the group, which has seen it open offices in Germany, Singapore, Australia, the US, China, Zambia and Mozambique, doubling its annual turnover to £70m.

It boasts expertise in a variety of sectors, including automotive, defence, education, health, mining, oil and gas, transport, telecommunications and utilities.

The Turner and Townsend Group currently employs 1,050 staff, including 650 in the UK and 400 overseas.

Mr Harrison said: "When we work for an overseas client they like us to have representation in their country. That has led to the continued expansion of our operations and to the opening of offices in areas like China, Malaysia and Singapore."

With the end of hostilities in Iraq, TTI is now planning to expand into the Middle East.

Mr Harrison said: "The Middle East, and in particular areas like Iraq, Qatar and Abu Dhabi, are target markets for us.

"The difficulty is how to get into the market, and that is affected by who is awarding the contracts for work.

"We are already working in areas like Kurdistan, so hopefully that will stand us in good stead, but its a waiting game at the moment."

Turner and Townsend carries out about one third of its work overseas.

But Mr Harrison said: "There is plenty of work still out there for us to do, and we are continuing to be competitive and win our share of it.

"We are currently the largest construction consultancy in Southern Africa.

"Eventually the split between the UK and overseas operations should be around 50/50, which will effectively recession proof the business.

"When there is a downturn in the UK, we still have our world markets to fall back on and vice-versa."

"In the past we always used to use the UK as a springboard into other markets, and it was always our centre of operations.

"Now we are using our offices already established in overseas markets, such as South Africa, as levers into new areas.

"There is a big market for our services, particularly in the field of oil, gas and mining, in Africa and increasingly in Australia."

The group's success, according to Mr Harrison, is its ability to export the skills and experience accumulated during more than 50 years of consultancy in the UK.

"We have always been committed to delivering the same high standards of service in every country we operate in.

"But wherever we have worked we have also tried to attract people capable of maintaining those standards locally. "Transferring our skills has played a major part in our expansion strategy."

Another key factor in the group's success has been its ability to target existing and new market sectors regions, with the most significant growth potential.

It has advised the Dutch, Italian and South African goverments on Private Finanace Initiatives (PFI) policy, based on its experience of such projects in the UK.

"These are exciting times for Turner and Townsend," said Mr Harrison.

"We have proved time and time again that we have the people and expertise to tackle projects, no matter how complex, anywhere in the world.

"The Queen's Award was not only a great honour, but also the best endorsement of our status as a leading international construction and management consultancy. The award has given us fresh confidence to take on new challenges and new markets, as we continue to expand."

Published: 23/07/2003