Parkman Group plc was a leading British firm of

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

consultants. It merged with

Mouchel Mouchel Group, originally known as L. G. Mouchel & Partners Ltd, was an infrastructure and business services company headquartered in Woking, United Kingdom. It provided advisory, design, project delivery and managed services associated with i ...

in 2003.

History

The consulting practice Ward Ashcroft was founded in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

in 1888,Mouchel: History
/ref> predominantly as a water and public health business. In 1948, Brigadier Parkman joined the firm to create Ward Ashcroft and Parkman. By the mid-1960s it had diversified into highways and structural engineering and from the 1970s it had spread its wings internationally, working in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

and later

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

. The company advised on outsourcing following the rapid expansion of public sector term contracts in the 1980s. From the mid-1990s Parkman, as it was now known, moved into public sector property and housing, starting with the

London Borough of Bexley The London Borough of Bexley () is a London boroughs, London borough in south-east London, forming part of Outer London. It has a population of 248,287. The main settlements are Sidcup, Erith, Bexleyheath, Belvedere, London, Belvedere, Crayford ...

, and in 1996 it won a Queens Award for Export Achievement. In 2000, the company, previously management and staff-owned, underwent a management buy-out and by 2001 a significant shift took place in the company's turnover as it moved towards public sector outsourcing commissions. In 2001 it was floated on the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

. In 2002, Parkman was named ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'' New Company of the Year and the following year it was named as one of the ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'' Top 100 Best Companies to Work For. Parkman Group plc's acquisitions included education consultant Full CircleUK Business Park: Parkman
in May 2002 and lighting design consultancy Atkins Odlin in July 2003.

plc and Parkman Group plc announced plans to merge on 21 August 2003: the merger was completed in September 2003, forming the new company, Mouchel Parkman plc.

References

{{reflist Consulting firms established in 1888 Defunct companies based in the West Midlands (county) Defunct engineering companies of England 1888 establishments in England Companies disestablished in 2003 2003 disestablishments in England 2003 mergers and acquisitions Engineering consulting firms of the United Kingdom