Arup eyes Holyrood wishlist

ENGINEERING firm Arup has completed a £5.5 million refurbishment of its Scottish headquarters, 
cementing its belief that a renewables boom and Holyrood’s wishlist of infra- structure projects will keep it busy north of the Border.

The South Queensferry practice, which was behind the Scottish Parliament building and the Falkirk Wheel, has sailed though the years of economic crisis thanks to work on the Forth Crossing and venues being built for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Brian Veitch, the group’s leader in Scotland, said he expects the financial environment to remain difficult, especially as governments scale back their spending. But he added: “On the other hand there’s never been a longer list of things that Scotland would like to do. It is not entirely clear how it will pay for them but the challenge is finding out.”

Arup, which has some 10,000 staff in 32 countries and fee income of £1 billion a year, has a division which advises on ways of funding projects. Veitch points to the firm’s experience with the high-speed rail link between London and the Channel Tunnel – which it designed with the aim of maximising economic opportunity – and said he would like to build such thinking into plans for a new fast link between Edinburgh and Glasgow.