Accenture acquires Soben to boost capital project capabilities
Global construction consultancy services provider Soben has joined Accenture. The Scottish-headquartered firm will boost Accenture’s capital projects capabilities, and boost its headcount by more than 200.
Based in Glasgow, Scotland, Soben works for leading global hyperscalers and co-location providers on major data centre construction. Since its launch in 2011, Soben’s services have expanded to include project management consultancy, scheduling, project controls, cost and commercial management, consultancy and advisory, and carbon cost management. With a team of 250, the company serves clients in Western Europe (UK, Germany, Scandinavia, Netherlands), the US, Mexico, Brazil, India and Australia.
This has attracted the attention of Accenture, which is looking to build capacity to meet the needs of clients addressing challenges with major capital projects. At present, only 6% of organisations deliver projects on time or ahead of schedule, according to the firm’s research, while two-thirds miss their budgetary targets. By adding Soben to its ranks, Accenture hopes the added expertise in data centre development and the pharmaceutical and energy industries will boost it’s capital projects capabilities in advisory as well as project, cost and commercial management for clients.
“The market for capital projects and especially data centres is growing rapidly, driven by ever-higher demand for cloud computing and AI and exponential data growth,” said Steve Roberts, senior managing director, Accenture Industry X. “Hyperscalers and co-location companies are under tremendous pressure to deliver on this demand. They need a provider that brings data centre expertise plus proven capital projects experience, which is what the combination of Soben and Accenture will stand for.”
The move will see Soben’s 250 employees join Accenture’s infrastructure and capital projects practice within Industry X. The move follows the 2024 acquisitions of BOSLAN, a management services provider focused on net-zero infrastructure in Spain, and IQT Group, a provider of engineering managed services for large infrastructure projects, based in Rovigo, Italy.
“When we started Soben in 2011, our vision was to disrupt the construction consultancy marketplace, and we have now established Soben as one of the key players for capital projects in Europe and North America,” added Scott Smyth, CEO at Soben. “By joining Accenture, we can realize that vision and offer fantastic opportunities for our people to grow their careers. We’re looking forward to bringing Accenture’s global reach and digital capabilities to our clients to help them scale their business fast and deliver exceptional outcomes for their capital projects.”
