Faithful+Gould (pronounced "Faithful and Gould" or "F and G") was an integrated project and programme management consultancy. It supported clients with the management of their construction projects and programmes.

History

The company was established by Eric Faithful and Leonard Gould in 1947 as they worked together to repair

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

after it was heavily bombed during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Faithful+Gould formed links with various other companies; examples include

Imperial Chemical Industries Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was a British Chemical industry, chemical company. It was, for much of its history, the largest manufacturer in Britain. Its headquarters were at Millbank in London. ICI was listed on the London Stock Exchange ...

(ICI), where it provided cost valuation and management services across its UK operations, and the

National Coal Board The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "ve ...

, where it aided in the development of Selby Coalfield. During early 1996, the company was acquired by Atkins via a combined cash and shares deal valued at £21 million; it operated as a subsidiary of the firm thereafter. Following the acquisition, it continued to expand organically as well as through a series of acquisitions; these included Silk & Frazier in 1998, Yeoman & Edwards in 1999 and Hanscomb in 2002. Faithful+Gould has undertaken numerous projects in the

nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced by ...

sector. In August 2001, it was awarded an advisory role on a £4 billion decommissioning scheme at

Dounreay Dounreay (; ) is a small settlement and the site of two large nuclear establishments on the north coast of Caithness Caithness (; ; ) is a Shires of Scotland, historic county, registration county and Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutena ...

. During 2010, Faithful+Gould and Atkins were awarded a £132 million contract to work on an experimental

fusion reactor Fusion power is a proposed form of power generation that would generate electricity by using heat from nuclear fusion reactions. In a fusion process, two lighter atomic nuclei combine to form a heavier nucleus, while releasing energy. Devices ...

in southern France. In 2005, the firm announced plans to double its headcount based in the US within five years. That same year, Faithful & Gould was appointed as the quantity surveyor for a £350 million redevelopment of Birmingham New Street railway station. During the mid to late 2000s, the firm's UK-based operations underwent considerable change and expansion. In 2007, Faithful+Gould's northern operations were restructured, and a new London-centric property division was created. In January 2011, Faithful+Gould, together with its parent company Atkins, formed a new consultancy unit aimed at addressing

green development Green development is a real estate development concept that considers social and environmental impacts of development. It is defined by three sub-categories: environmental responsiveness, resource efficiency, and community and cultural sensitivity ...

and environmental queries. In October 2012, Simon Burns, the Minister for Transport, stated in

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

that Faithful+Gould had been responsible for the franchising policy design for the

InterCity West Coast InterCity West Coast (ICWC) was a 1997–2019 railway franchise in the United Kingdom for passenger trains on the West Coast Main Line (and branches thereof), between London Euston, the West Midlands, North Wales, Liverpool, Manchester, Car ...

franchise competition, which was abandoned and led to reforms. The Laidlaw Inquiry made no criticism of the firm's conduct. During November 2012, the

Bank of Ireland Bank of Ireland Group plc () is a commercial bank operation in Ireland and one of the traditional Big Four Irish banks. Historically the premier banking organisation in Ireland, the bank occupies a unique position in Irish banking history. At ...

took

legal action In legal terminology, a complaint is any formal legal document that sets out the facts and legal reasons (see: cause of action) that the filing party or parties (the plaintiff(s)) believes are sufficient to support a claim against the part ...

against Faithful+Gould, seeking £9.9 million over alleged failing related to an abandoned tower project in Manchester. In April 2013, the company purchased the project management business Confluence in exchange for £8.4 million. By the point of this acquisition, Faithful+Gould employed in excess of 2,000 staff at various locations across the world. In 2016, Faithful+Gould was appointed as programme and project manager of a £1 billion 10-year expansion of the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

’s Gilmorehill Campus. During March 2020, Atkins and Faithful+Gould were awarded a role on the digital signalling upgrade of the

East Coast Main Line The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between its northern terminus at and southern terminus at . The key towns and cities of , , , , and are on the line. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Grea ...

. Amid the United Kingdom cladding crisis of the late 2010s and early 2020s, Faithful+Gould was engaged to advise on remediating the unsafe cladding of 187 buildings. During April 2021, the firm was one of three companies selected by the

Department for Education The Department for Education (DfE) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for child protection, child services, education in England, educati ...

to survey 70,000 school buildings throughout Britain. That same year, Faithful+Gould was appointed by the Construction Industry Council to advise businesses on financial best practice while pursuing

net zero emissions Global net-zero emissions is reached when greenhouse gas emissions and removals due to human activities are in balance. It is often called simply net zero. ''Emissions'' can refer to all greenhouse gases or only carbon dioxide (). Reaching net ze ...

. In September 2023, Faithful+Gould rebranded along with SNC Lavalin and Atkins to form

AtkinsRéalis AtkinsRéalis Group Inc., formerly known as SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., is a Canadian company based in Montreal that provides engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) services to various industries, including mining and metallurgy, environme ...

- a global design, engineering and project management consultancy.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Business services companies of the United Kingdom Construction and civil engineering companies of the United Kingdom Consulting firms established in 1947 1947 establishments in England Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1947 British companies established in 1947 Multinational companies headquartered in England Privately held companies of England AtkinsRéalis