Davis Langdon is moving into general management consultancy, senior partner Rob Smith has told Building magazine. The move is the firm’s first change of direction since it was bought last month by Aecom, the American engineering-led multidisciplinary consultant, which has a turnover of £3.8bn.
Smith said Davis Langdon had decided last week “at a global level” that it would emulate consultants such as the 16, 500-strong US firm McKinsey & Company. The move towards strategic management consultancy this would mean becoming involved with companies at an earlier stage than is usual with a quantity surveyor.
Smith said Davis Langdon could advise governments and corporations on how to invest in the built environment “from the very earliest moment a client is contemplating something, rather than from when a client wants a building”.
He denied the move towards management consultancy had been forced on it by Aecom, which bought the QS last month for £204m. Smith told the magazine he had been pushing for Davis Langdon to “go down the McKinsey route” since 2004.
However, Aecom’s recent takeover has been followed by several high-profile departures from Davis Langdon, as some partners left its new “corporate” structure.
Building reported that senior figures to have left the firm in the past months include Simon Rawlinson, who had worked for Davis Langdon for 15 years; Richard Taylor, head of retail in the UK, Europe and the Middle East; Padraic McGuinn, head of commercial fit-out in the UK; Andy Outram, a partner who worked on the bid for the Athletes’ Village for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, and Neil Morrison, managing partner of Davis Langdon’s commercial Blue Team in London.
Smith said Davis Langdon was picking up work from companies looking to remodel their office accommodation. He explained that DEGW, the architect and space planner which the QS bought in August 2009, was busier than at any time for the past four years.
He added that the firm’s expertise in construction gave it an edge over traditional management consultants when it came to huge infrastructure projects. ““There’s more activity [in these areas] because people don’t have the funds to invest and the banks aren’t lending,” he said.
