News releases 2014

Atkins supports 'Better Growth, Better Climate' report - 17 September 2014

A major new report titled "Better Growth, Better Climate" has been released by a commission of global leaders and has found that governments and businesses can now improve economic growth and reduce their carbon emissions together. Rapid technological innovation and new investment in infrastructure are making it possible today to tackle climate change at the same time as improving economic performance.

Atkins contributed to the development of the report by releasing one of our economists to work with the Global Commission, Nick Godfrey, who also co-wrote the Future Proofing Cities report.

Atkins' chief executive officer, Prof Dr Uwe Krueger, said: "This well researched and timely report demonstrates that we can create a world in which economic growth and prosperity sit alongside efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Given the scale of anticipated infrastructure need there is an unprecedented opportunity to plan, design, and build a smarter future. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the world's growing cities where a greater focus on integrated urban planning and infrastructure delivery can create better, more productive cities. Leaders in the private and public sectors, in countries, regions, and cities need to seize the opportunity now.

"As planners, designers and engineers we must continually innovate to bring about reductions in energy consumption, allowing both carbon emissions and cost to be reduced and creating true value for our clients and society at large."

You can find more information and a link to the New Climate Economy report here.

Ends

For more information:
Ava Lawrence
Communications manager, Water and Environment

+44 20 7121 2479
Ava.lawrence@atkinsglobal.com

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Notes to editors:

Atkins (www.atkinsglobal.com) is one of the world's leading design, engineering and project management consultancies*, employing some 17,500 people across the UK, North America, Middle East, Asia Pacific and Europe. Our people's breadth and depth of expertise and drive to ask why has allowed us to plan, design and enable some of the world's most complex and time critical projects.

*15th largest global design firm (Engineering News-Record 2014) and the third largest multidisciplinary consultancy in Europe (Svensk Teknik och Design 2013).

Recent projects:

Atkins is working across urban regeneration, masterplanning, national energy programmes, major transport schemes, water and environment projects - applying smart design solutions on projects including:

  • Doha Central Planning Office - helping to resource Qatar's Central Planning Office (CPO) to co-ordinate the efficient delivery of multi-modal transport services across land, air and sea as part of its 2030 National Vision;
  • The London 2012 Games infrastructure transformation - technical advisor on the legacy use transition of the Olympic Park as a follow-on role to our work as the Games' official engineering and design provider;
  • UAE's peaceful nuclear new build programme - providing technical assurance to lenders backing the United Arab Emirates' most ambitious energy infrastructure projects;
  • North Sea and Gulf of Mexico oil and gas platforms - extending the operational life of critical oil and gas platforms to allow cost-efficient and safe recovery of fuel sources from mature fields;
  • SSE offshore wind alliance - provision of expert engineering and design support for the UK's biggest offshore wind alliance with Scottish and Southern Energy;
  • Crossrail - designing the Central London twin tunnels and station architecture for Europe's biggest civil engineering scheme which will see tunnels passing beneath 470 listed buildings and critical infrastructure;
  • Etihad Railway - providing multidisciplinary design expertise on the 1,200 km Etihad Rail network which will revolutionise passenger and freight transport in the UAE;
  • Denmark ERTMS - providing multidisiplinary signalling expertise on the first countrywide installation of an ERTMS train control and management system in Denmark;
  • Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge - lead consultant on this integral part of the new Hong Kong link road scheme which will significantly boost land connectivity in the region;
  • Lowestoft Sixth Form College - design of the ultralow energy consumption Lowestoft College in the UK which aims to reduce operational energy use by more than 60% compared to previous designs;
  • UK National Composites Centre - providing technical expertise to bring the latest lightweight carbon fibre materials to all engineering sectors, helping to develop innovative applications and reduce costs and carbon;
  • US Environmental Protection Agency - providing technical assessment and analysis of national water-related resources and ecological systems in North America;
  • Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) superfast broadband - providing technical, commercial and procurement support to help deliver superfast broadband to one of Europe's most remote regions.
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