The firm will work exclusively with the consultants in the UK to drive greater collaborative working and innovation for clients.

A newly-appointed strategic design consultant partnership director, Robin Bashford, will lead the new collaborative partnership.   Prior to this Bashford held a senior position within Balfour Beatty’s Major Projects business.

Designers and engineers from the four companies will work together to find solutions in key areas such as health and safety through design, value engineering and the use of more cost-effective design resources.

Balfour said UK clients would benefit from earlier engagement with a co-ordinated collaborative team and improved, consistent working practices, helping to reduce construction and programme costs.

Stephen Tarr, managing director for Balfour Beatty’s major projects business and executive committee sponsor for the partnership, said: “This newly formed strategic design consultant partnership represents collaboration in its purest form, providing a new and refreshed way of working between contractor and designer.”

“This partnership will draw on decades of industry experience and combine it with the modern-day technological expertise of our engineers and designers to deliver a truly lean, expert, trusted and safe way of working together as an industry.”

Mike McNicholas, managing director of Atkins’ Infrastructure division, said: “Infrastructure investment continues to be a high priority for the UK, but clients couldn’t be clearer in their message to industry that we need to deliver it differently to provide better value and outcomes for them, their end users and those funding the projects.

“A greater use of technology is widely acknowledged as one way of doing this, but equally as important will be industry leading companies coming together to innovate and collaborate more effectively. This partnership is an exciting step forward in achieving these goals”.

Stephen Lawrence, Mott MacDonald’s design partnership director said: “Our collaboration with Balfour Beatty goes back nearly 35 years and we’re looking forward to building an even stronger working relationship.”

Alistair Kennedy, WSP’s executive director responsible for the new partnership said:  “We are delighted to have been selected by Balfour Beatty as a strategic partner. Our two companies already work closely together across a wide spectrum of projects and WSP is excited to have the opportunity to be part of this innovative and collaborative approach.”