Sinclair Knight Merz

Sinclair Knight Merz

Formerly	Sinclair Knight
Industry	Consulting
Founded	1964
Founder	Bruce Sinclair Jack Knight
Defunct	December 2013
Headquarters	Australia
Key people	Santo Rizzuto (CEO) Peter Scott (Chairman)
Services	Strategic consulting, engineering and project delivery
Revenue	$1.3 billion (2013)
Number of employees	7,500 + (2013)
Website	www.globalskm.com

Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM) was a private Australian company operating across Asia-Pacific, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The company had global capability in strategic consulting, engineering and project delivery. In 2013 the business was purchased by Jacobs and the brand retired.

History

Sinclair Knight Merz was founded in 1964 in Sydney by Bruce Sinclair and Jack Knight.^[1][2][3] In 1996 it merged with Merz Australia to form Sinclair Knight Merz.^[4]

In 1999, SKM merged with Kingston Morrison of New Zealand and Modus Consulting Engineers from the United Kingdom.^[5][6]

In the early 2000s further merges occurred with HS Liao of Malaysia, Murray North of Singapore, Ingenco, and Kirkman & Bradford in Scotland. In 2004 the Overseas Projects Corporation of Victoria was purchased from the Government of Victoria along with CCD Australia. Minmetal of Chile was purchased in 2005 and HBH of Perth in 2006.^[4][7]

In October 2011 the rail division of Mouchel was purchased.^[8] In September 2013 Jacobs agreed terms to purchase the business with the transaction completed in December 2013 and the brand retired.^[9][10]

Controversies

SKM faced criminal charges between 2006 and 2011 for suspected bribing of officials in Vietnam, and between 2000 and mid-2005 in the Philippines. Jacobs became aware of conduct whilst conducting due diligence ahead of it purchasing SKM and self reported to the Australian Federal Police.^[11] In September 2023 the Supreme Court of New South Wales imposed a fine of $1.4 million.^[12]

Notable projects

• El Teniente, Chile (engineering and design)^[13]
• Hume Highway, Australia (road, bridge, drainage design and environmental management)^[14]
• Irrigation Modernisation Project, Victoria, Australia (engineering design and program management))^[15]
• Eden Project (structural and civil design)^[16]
• Athens Olympic Stadium (structural design)^[17]
• Wembley Stadium redevelopment (seating and roof design)^[18]
• Gold Coast Desalination Plant (engineering and design)^[19]
• Port upgrade, Dampier, Western Australia (engineering, procurement and construction management)^[20]
• The Roundhouse, London (structural engineering and roof design)^[21]
• Project Seabird – Indian naval base (planning, design, civil and construction supervision services)^[22]
• Dublin Light Rail system (track, civil, structural and building design)^[23]
• Hobart class destroyer program (detail design, marine engineering, risk management, infrastructure engineering)^[24]
• Albury-Wodonga Hume Freeway bypass (design)^[25]
• Central Motorway Junction, Auckland, New Zealand (strategic planning and project delivery)^[26]
• Sydney Desalination Plant^[27]

References

1. A company where the bosses never retire Australian Financial Review 24 July 1996
2. About Sinclair Knight Merz Sinclair Knight Merz
3. SKM joins Jacobs Engineers Australia 17 March 2014
4. Sinclair Knight Merz – Celebrating Over 40 years Sinclair Knight Merz
5. Other New Zealand Gazette 15 July 1999
6. SKM leads Australian invasion into UK Building 19 November 1999
7. HBH, SKM merge Business News 29 August 2006
8. SKM buys Mouchel's rail business Railway Gazette International 29 October 2011
9. Jacobs Engineering to buy Sinclair Knight Merz for $1.2 bln Reuters 9 September 2013
10. Jacobs Completes Merger Transaction with Sinclair Knight Merz Jacobs
11. Sinclair Knight Merz foreign bribery case sparks call for greater police resources The Guardian 14 July 2018
12. The King v Jacobs Group: High Court opens the door for larger foreign bribery penalties Ashurst Australia 3 August 2023
13. "El Teniente Mine, Engineering of Capacity Upgrade of Level 8 Ore Haulage Railway, Chile=El Teniente Mine". Archived from the original on 26 November 2009. Retrieved 18 December 2009.
14. Hume Highway duplication package Roads & Traffic Authority
15. "GMW's FutureFlow wins another Victorian award for Engineering Innovation". Goulburn-Murray Water FutureFlow. Retrieved 18 December 2009.
16. "Calling Planet Earth – The Da Vinci Code building has landed". The Eden project. Archived from the original on 27 October 2007. Retrieved 27 November 2007.
17. "The Roof Of The Olympic Stadium For The 2004 Athens Olympic Games: from Concept to Implementation" (PDF). Prof. Spiro N. Pollalis, Harvard Design School. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 May 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2007.
18. "Building Wembley". Wembley Stadium. Archived from the original on 17 December 2007. Retrieved 27 November 2007.
19. "The Gold Coast Desalination project". GCD Alliance. Archived from the original on 21 November 2007. Retrieved 27 November 2007.
20. "2006 Winners". Engineers Australia WA Division. Archived from the original on 28 October 2007. Retrieved 28 November 2007.
21. "Architects and Design team". The Roundhouse. Archived from the original on 18 November 2007. Retrieved 28 November 2007.
22. "Project Seabird Shiplift Civil Works – Key Design Issues". Coasts and Ports: Coastal Living – Living Coast; Australasian Conference 2005; Proceedings. Retrieved 28 November 2007.
23. "Dublin Luas Light Rail network". railway-technology.com. Retrieved 28 November 2007.
24. "SKM Joins Defence Skilling Program". Minister for Defence. Archived from the original on 3 September 2007. Retrieved 28 November 2007.
25. "Delivering Better Roads". Australian Road Forum Road News April/May 2007. Archived from the original on 29 August 2007. Retrieved 28 November 2007.
26. "CMJ – Timeline". Central Motorway Improvements – Transit New Zealand. Archived from the original on 20 June 2007. Retrieved 28 November 2007.
27. Press Release Aecom