Byrne Looby rebrands as Ayesa after completing integration

Engineering consultancy Byrne Looby has rebranded to match its parent company. Under the Ayesa moniker, the firm believes it will be better positioned to adapt to market conditions in Ireland and the UK.  

Founded in 1998, Byrne Looby is a Dublin-headquartered consulting firm. The firm specialises in engineering advisory, providing solutions to water, infrastructure, marine, building and energy projects across Ireland, Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

In early 2022, Byrne Looby was acquired by Spanish engineering and technology services firm Ayesa. At the time, the firm was seeking to expand its global engineering services, as well as to grow further into English-speaking markets, including Ireland, the UK, US and Australia, as well as the Middle East.

The move led to Byrne Looby’s more than 50 ground engineering professionals joining Ayesa. With offices in 23 countries and a workforce of over 12,000 professionals, the broader parent firm now holds a prominent position in Latin America, and in digital consulting services in Spain.

After 18 months of integration of this expanded workforce, the decision has been made to bring Byrne Looby under the branding of Ayesa. Rob Sizer, co-founder of Byrne Looby, and engineering director of what is now Ayesa UK and Ireland, said the move would "immediately enhance the proposition of the UK division”.

Sizer added, "They bring a wealth of experience and skill, having already worked on major projects in the UK, including the Silvertown Tunnel. They bring a unique set of specialisms drawn from working in extreme environments, including recent projects in Scandinavia, where they provided technical expertise to work within very challenging clays alongside important seismic geotechnical and structural design across Latin America and the Middle East. All this, and more, will be invaluable as the UK adapts to climate change and seeks to futureproof infrastructure.”

Ayesa has also been involved in some of the world’s most ambitious and advanced projects, providing geotechnical consultancy on the metro system in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. With the Middle East consulting market booming – as its governments attempt to diversify their economies away from oil – the region provides a tantalising prospect to UK and Ireland-based firms, looking to insulate themselves from the slump their own domestic industry is currently enduring.

To that end, Ayesa UK and Ireland is expected to be able to operate at a greater scale, drawing from the global engineering and technology specialist resources to offer additional services. The organisation will look to compete for more large-scale infrastructure projects within the Middle East. But that does not mean it is turning its back on its bread-and-butter closer to home.

Even after the news finally broke that HS2 would not be delivered in full, Sizer insists “[There is still] plenty of infrastructure work being undertaken or planned across the UK. For example, we’ll be focusing on Network Rail’s new five year plan, recently announced and set to provide essential and far-reaching upgrades. Not only that, there’s plenty of activity around other transport infrastructure, particularly roads, which have recently had major funding allocated to repair, regeneration, and new schemes.

Beyond that, Ayesa UK and Ireland is also looking at strengthening its proposition within other key verticals, particularly groundworks for buildings and our water sector capabilities. That means that currently the firm is in the process of growing UK teams for both where both Ayesa and Byrne Looby “have considerable and highly regarded expertise worldwide.”