WS Atkins PLC : AUSY Group and Atkins appointed EADS preferred supplier for engineering services through new joint venture - 03 July 2012

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AUSY Group and Atkins appointed EADS preferred supplier for engineering services through new joint venture - 03 July 2012

Leading aerospace and defence group, EADS, has appointed E2A, a 50:50 unincorporated joint venture between AUSY Group and Atkins, as a preferred supplier for engineering services.

The award of preferred supplier status comes after the two companies joined forces to bring together a wider pool of highly-skilled and multi-discipline engineers, larger mobile teams and the capability to deliver bigger packages in work for the aerospace and defence sectors.

Neil Kirk, managing director of Atkins' aerospace division, said: "Joining forces in this way helps us provide the services manufacturers want in a way which best meets their needs. Clients have told us they are looking for suppliers who can manage complete work packages, quickly mobilising international teams that offer experience and innovation with well-integrated offshore capability. Our new joint venture will provide this."

Marc Maury, AUSY's aerospace director, added: "The fact that EADS selected us as an E2A Preferred Supplier demonstrates how well we fit the industrial supplying strategy of aerospace leaders. And we'll keep on supporting EADS' challenges and successes, expanding internationally and growing as a global partner."

As a preferred supplier for engineering services, E2A will deliver high-quality engineering solutions to the EADS portfolio of companies, which includes Airbus, Cassidian, Astrium and Eurocopter.

Together, the two companies provide a range of engineering solutions in aircraft, helicopters, defence and space systems; and expertise in design and analysis of metallic and composite structures, cabin interiors, software development, fuel and landing gear systems and avionics.

They employ more than 21,100 experts, designers, engineers and project managers and have over 250 offices around the world, including in the UK, France, Germany, Spain, the US and India.

The E2A joint venture offers three key benefits:

• Bases in all the major aerospace and defence centres around the world;
• Complementary capability and experience, ranging from fuselage, wing, cockpit and empennage, through to systems and avionics, embedded software and IT;
• A bigger pool of highly-skilled aerospace, defence, systems and software specialists.

Farnborough International Airshow: take off for the E2A joint venture

Atkins and ELAN-AUSY will be sharing a stand (Hall 1, stand A2/A3) at the Farnborough International Airshow from 9 July to 13 July 2012, in order to promote the newly founded joint venture.

Ends

For more information: Joanna Thornton Head of communications, Aerospace, Atkins [phone] [e-mail] Marie-Agnès Linard Corporate communications manager, AUSY Group [phone] [e-mail] Follow Atkins' news on Twitter Notes to editors: E2A stands for ELAN-AUSY & Atkins E2A is a 50:50 unincorporated joint venture between AUSY and Atkins E2A's website at www.e2a-global.com will be launched to coincide with the Farnborough Airshow. About Atkins: Atkins (www.atkinsglobal.com) is one of the world's leading engineering and design consultancies*, employing some 17,700 people across the UK, North America, Middle East, Asia Pacific and Europe. It has the breadth and depth of expertise to plan, design and enable some of the world's most technically challenging and time critical infrastructure projects. *It is the largest engineering consultancy in the UK (New Civil Engineer Consultants File 2012) and the 13th largest global design firm (Engineering News-Record 2011). Recent nuclear projects include: Provision of full multidisciplinary design services as architect engineer for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project in France; Delivery of engineering services across the UK's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) estate including the decommissioning of the first generation Magnox storage pond at Sellafield, one of the highest hazard facilities in the NDA estate; Atkins has played a key role for EDF Energy in providing the solution to returning the Heysham A and Hartlepool nuclear power stations back to power following problems with the boiler closure units on those stations; Atkins has trained more than 550 engineers over the past two years in its Nuclear Training Academy and is currently supporting the new Nuclear Energy course at the University of Cambridge to educate the nuclear industry leaders of the future. Recent projects include: Major infrastructure works, such as the design and programme management of the civil works for the Dubai Metro red and green lines in the UAE; Key rail projects - providing architectural and engineering design services on Crossrail, Europe's biggest civil engineering project in London, UK, and designing stations, tunnelling and track systems for Gautrain, South Africa's first high speed line; Renewable energy schemes - transformer platform design for the Thanet offshore wind park in the North Sea; Multi-year architecture-engineering construction management services for the US National Park Service, including projects such as rehabilitation of the Furnace Creek Visitor Center and Administrative Complex at California's Death Valley to meet the US Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold certification standards; High profile transport planning and urban design - our innovative scheme to deliver a diagonal crossing at Oxford Circus in London, UK, has helped tackle the problem of pedestrian crowding; Water and environmental projects - critical programme management of storm protection works in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and Southern Louisiana in North America, providing expertise in coastal restoration, engineering, environmental and GIS support to rebuild defenses and protect habitats; Multidisciplinary building design - Northwood Primary School in Darlington, UK, is an exemplar project which raises standards for environmental design and community engagement. Atkins was named among The Sunday Times 25 Best Big Companies to Work For 2011, won Consultancy of the Year in the CIBSE Low Carbon Performance Awards 2010, received the first ever certification of the Carbon Trust Standard awarded to an engineering consultancy in the construction sector, and was included in The Times Top 50 Employers for Women 2011 and The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers 2010. Atkins was also construction and civil engineering sector winner for the fifth consecutive year in the Target National Graduate Recruitment Awards 2010 and was awarded a RoSPA Gold Award 2011 for excellence in control of health and safety in the workplace. Atkins is the official engineering design services provider for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. About AUSY Group: AUSY is a key partner for large-scale project steering and a primary support for large international companies. The Group provides consulting services, and also develops and manages global turnkey solutions as well as outsourcing, through its innovative capacities and its strong quality standards (CMMi level 3, AS9100). For many years, AUSY one of the main European Consulting and Engineering firm in High Technologies, has experienced strong and uninterrupted growth in its fields of expertise. Further, its workforce has also experienced significant growth, with over 3,630 employees and a turnover of nearly €294m in 2011. The Group has a global footprint in Europe, Asia and North-Africa, including France, Germany, the UK, Spain and India AUSY develops its expertise in 2 core business fields: Industrial systems and Information Systems and offers bespoke solutions through several value-added business lines: Industrial computing and systems engineering; Mechanical engineering and industrial processes; Information and digital contents technologies; Energy and Environment engineering; Telecommunications and infrastructure technologies ELAN-AUSY is the German subsidiary of AUSY Group and on www.elan-ausy.com Follow AUSY Group's news on www.ausy.com.