Press releases

Atkins appointed as specialist advisor to bring superfast broadband to Scotland - 09 November 2011

Atkins is working with Highlands & Islands Enterprise (HIE) to provide procurement support and technical advice on the best method of providing superfast broadband across the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.

The HIE region was one of the four named pilot areas in the UK to provide rural market testing for Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK). BDUK has been set up by the UK Government to ensure the realisation of achieving the best superfast broadband network in Europe, ensuring that every household and business, particularly those in remote rural areas, can access a basic level of 2Mb broadband by 2015 and superfast broadband speeds of greater than 30 Mb by 2030.

Atkins has been providing technical advice to HIE on the project since January 2011 and is currently supporting the recently launched procurement process. This will appoint a private sector supplier for the delivery of superfast broadband across the region. The procurement will follow the European-wide OJEU Competitive Dialogue process with contracts expected to be signed by July 2012.

Atkins' project manager and principal consultant, Neil Watt comments: "This is an extremely important project for the economic future of a remote rural area such as the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. The trial will also provide the route map for the digital future of Scotland and indeed the whole of the UK. We are delighted to have the opportunity to shape the way that the next generation of superfast broadband will be achieved throughout the country." 

Andrea Rutherford, HIE's senior development manager, said: "Good communication links are a cornerstone in growing attractive, sustainable communities in remote and rural areas. Having faster, reliable broadband brings with it a whole range of opportunities, both in delivering the services our communities need every day and in the ways we as a region can do business."

Ends

For more information:

Sarah Armstrong

Marketing communications manager

Information Communications, Atkins

+44 1454 662431 

Sarah.Armstrong@atkinsglobal.com

Notes to editors:

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 2011) and the 13th largest international design firm (Engineering News-Record 2011).

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 UK's 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.   

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