In May Stantec acquired engineering design firm Hydrock, adding 950 staff to its UK workforce. Today, Cath Schefer, Stantec’s executive vice president and chief operating officer for global, and Scott Elliott, managing director of Hydrock - now Stantec – talks to Infrastructure Intelligence news editor Karen McLauchlan about what the deal means for the business, and its ambitions for the year ahead.

Eight years ago, global design and engineering company Stantec had no presence in the UK.

Fast forward to today and the picture is very different.

Staff numbers are approaching the 4,000 mark following completion of its most recent acquisition - bringing engineering design firm Hydrock and its 950 staff into the Stantec fold.

Cath Schefer, Stantec’s executive vice president and chief operating officer for global, says: “We’ve seen incredible growth in the UK since 2016 through a series of acquisitions. It’s been very purposeful.

“Founded on a water business we felt that expanding into infrastructure markets was a really sensible approach.

“The business is now multidisciplinary and covers buildings, water, infrastructure, environmental services and energy and resources.”

The addition of Bristol-headquartered Hydrock follows other acquisitions, namely Barton Willmore in 2022 and Peter Brett Associates and ESI Consulting in 2018.

“Hydrock is an excellent business,” adds Schefer, “they really enhance the buildings, infrastructure and energy portions of our business.

“It was just before Christmas that we started talking seriously and moved quickly to get things over the line

“But the businesses had known each other for some time and many staff were already working together.”

The acquisition came at a critical time for Hydrock which was founded by Brian McConnell 29-years-ago.

“Brian is 60 and wanted to enjoy his retirement,” explains Scott Elliott, managing director of Hydrock - now Stantec, “plus we wanted to deliver on the six-year partnership we’d had with equity investor BGF.

“Working with and selecting Stantec as our new home, they were all compelling reasons for moving forward when we did.”

And it’s a move that has been well received by staff – across both businesses.

“It’s been a very comfortable announcement,” adds Schefer. “The deal was done on the basis of no staff reductions – because there’s no need for it.

“When I briefed staff the number of emails I got saying ‘this is fantastic for us’ was quite overwhelming. The staff weren’t afraid, they were full of excitement.

“The businesses are complementary. We don’t acquire badly performing firms, we acquire great firms and we need all the assets that come with that great business.

“The two businesses are now working alongside each other and we’ll determine how that will work as we come together.

“There’s no immediate rush, but we want to capitalise on the excitement everyone has. We want people to have the opportunity to connect quickly and make the most of us coming together.”

Elliott adds: “Hydrock’s values have always been very important, so coming together with another company the cultural alignment was the number one thing for us.

“We know some of the people who have been acquired previously and have been working for Stantec for many years.

“That really appealed to us. Hydrock doesn’t own any assets, no buildings or products, but what we do have is 950 staff with excellent client relationships that do really good business. And that’s what Stantec has invested in.”

Schefer says bringing the businesses together means Stantec is bigger, can offer more and can open the door to new clients and markets.

“What’s good is we didn’t often compete,” she adds, “we didn’t butt up against each other in the market and weren’t really competitors.”

Elliott adds: “In the last three or four years Hydrock has been working to make itself a truly national business working on the biggest and best infrastructure projects out there.

“The deal with Stantec does accelerate our position and put us three of four years ahead of where we wanted to be. It’s a really important step forward for us and our staff.”

Together the businesses have a presence in 33 different UK locations – with a combined presence in some areas.

And both Schefer and Elliott are keen to continue building the business.

“We positioned ourselves to address some of the most urgent challenges in the built environment,” said Schefer, “it is quite turbulent, but there is a lot of opportunity - regeneration, transition to a low carbon economy - the need for resilient infrastructure is abundantly clear to everyone.

“I think our workforce is very focused on the environment and the world around them.

“And yes, there’s a lot going on with the economy and with a change in government – but it doesn’t change the long-term outlook and some of the challenges we have here in the UK.

“So, we are very optimistic, we’re incredibly busy as a firm right now – so I look on this collaboration as being incredibly positive for both firms.”

She adds: “There was a lull and a lack of decision making in the run up to the election – because firms don’t know if a new government will change things.

“If the election hadn’t happened until next year, we could have been facing a long period of uncertainty.”

Elliott adds: “Some great opportunities come from an election – from infrastructure and a planning perspective, decarbonisation and net zero – that plays into what Hydrock is best at, never mind what a combined entity of Stantec and Hydrock will be able to bring to that.

“Interest rates are coming down and becoming more manageable. Projects we were looking at two or three years ago that ran out of viability because of the increase in cost are starting to come back to us.

“We are busy and we now have to start planning for how we take advantage of what’s to come. I really do believe that as we get into Q3 and Q4, there’s going to be a significant uptick in development in this country.

“Enquiries would tell us we’ve turned a corner, and things are back on the up.”
Stantec is also working hard to ensure it has the right staff to deliver on projects, investing in its graduate and apprenticeship schemes.

Plus, it is planning to anticipate peaks and troughs in workflow and use fast-track training to have the people in place at the right time.

A year ago, Stantec introduced its Stormwater Academy – an intensive six to eight weeks of training in this water sector.

“We fast-track people to something very topical where there is a real need,” explains Schefer.

“We’re not just looking to recruit people from the market to fill a demand, we are anticipating the need and training people quickly for that need.”

And growth continues to be on the agenda for Stantec.

“For us it’s not growth for growth’s sake,” explains Schefer, “if something comes along, we’ll look at it.

“We have an aspiration to keep growing, but only when it makes sense for us and our people.

“Stantec is always on the lookout for good firms that are going to improve our business.

“But for now we are working hard to knit the Hydrock and Stantec businesses together.

“It’s an incredibly exciting time, bringing all our leaders together to talk about the future.

“We’re creating a vision about where the business will go - then we’ll charge ahead and deliver on that plan.”