 | |
| Company type | Partnership |
|---|---|
| Industry | Engineering consulting |
| Founded | 1976 |
| Headquarters | Partnership House,Newcastle, United Kingdom |
Key people | Carole O'Neil (Managing Partner) |
| Website | www |
Cundall is a multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy. Originally based inNewcastle andEdinburgh, the company had spread its operations across five continents.
The firm was founded in 1976 on the basis that it would offer a more client-focused service with a multi-disciplinary and ecologically friendly approach to projects. Five years after its establishment, Cundall expanded into London, and thereafter various other locations, securing increasingly prominent work as a result. During the 1990s and 2000s, a new generation of partners gradually took on operations from Cundall's original founding partners; the company's first managing director, David Dryden, was appointed in 2002. Significant expansion of the company occurred during the 2010s,[1] although job losses occurred during theCOVID-19 pandemic of the early 2020s. Cundall has frequently advocated for environmental sustainability and sympathetic development; it plans for all of the firm's undertakings to achieve newzero carbon by 2030.
During 1976, Cundall was established, having been co-founded by Geoffrey Cundall, Rick Carr, Michael Burch, David Gandy and Bernard Johnston.[2] A common belief held by the founders was that the construction industry was chaotic and could be better organised; Cundall thus sought to deliver projects via a people-centric multi-disciplinary approach that incorporated structural, civil, electrical and mechanical engineering.[3]
As directed by several of its founders, the company has long maintained an emphasis on ecologically friendly development.[4][2] Referred to aslow energy design early on, sustainability in Cundall's undertakings was pursued from the firm's early years.[3] Company representatives have often publicly spoken out on the topic and promoted the incorporation of low energy solutions and new technologies to minimise environmental impact and increase efficiency;[5][6] the company has also set a goal for all of its undertakings to achieve newzero carbon by 2030.[7]
Initially, the firm's activities were initially centred around the northern cities ofNewcastle andEdinburgh.[3] During 1981, at the urging of Carr, the company's London office was established; Carr and Laurie Clark secured numerous key clients in London that led to Cundall being awarded roles in numerous high-profile projects, including the headquarters of several major firms, such asSwiss Bank,British Airways andDeutsche Bank.[2] The next three offices opened by the firm were inBirmingham,Manchester, andSydney - the latter being the start of Cundall's international expansion.[3] The company had pursued a strategy of wholly organic expansion; this has been not only in terms of geographic coverage but also in terms of the disciplines offered to prospective clients, such asIT,geotechnics,fire protection engineering,lighting design andacoustics.[3][8]
During 1989, founder Geoffrey Cundall departed the firm; he died in early 2015.[9][4] During 2002, David Dryden was appointed as Cundall's first managing partner; a new generation of partners gradually took on day-to-day operations of the firm from the remaining founds around this time.[3]
In early 2009, Cundall tooklegal action against a hotel group over its failure to pay for work performed on a luxury hotel adjacent toSt Paul's Cathedral in London.[10]
The 2010s saw significant expansion of the company.[1] By 2014, Cundall was operating numerous offices around the world; in the United Kingdom, it had offices inLondon, Newcastle, Edinburgh,Birmingham,Belfast, andManchester; its Australian offices were inSydney,Perth,Melbourne,Brisbane, andAdelaide; the Asian offices includedHong Kong,Shanghai,Manila, andSingapore; and its Middle East and North African (MENA) offices were inDubai,Doha, andTripoli, and European offices inDublin,Bucharest,Paphos, Madrid, andWrocław.[11] In 2014, Tomás Neeson took over as managing partner.[3]
In July 2020, amid theCOVID-19 pandemic, the firm announced that it would shed as many as 40 jobs; at the time, it employed 550 UK-based employees.[12] In July 2024, Rick Carr, one of Cundall's founding partners and a key figure at the firm for almost half a century, died.[2]
In 2016, Cundall won the Consultant of the Year award at the Construction News Awards, as organised byConstruction News.[1]
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