Milestones in Mott MacDonald’s history in Africa include the expansion of its presence in the power market with the 2010 acquisition of South Africa and Botswana power consultancy Merz and McLellan, which first came to the region in 1910 and whose founders were instrumental in the creation of South Africa’s national electricity supply utility Eskom. This move enabled Mott MacDonald to provide a strong combined local and international resource offering engineering services for the transmission and distribution sector, all types of renewables, thermal generation, electrical and mechanical inspection, and nuclear power.

In 2013, Mott MacDonald acquired South African engineering consultancy PD Naidoo & Associates [which itself developed from a start-up engineering consultancy and through key acquisitions (GFJ, Siyenza, CBI and several others) became one of South Africa’s leading companies] and combined PDNA’s operations with its sub-Saharan Africa business to create a multi-disciplinary business providing design, implementation, and management services in sectors ranging from property and infrastructure, transport and water, to industry, mining, and communications.

As part of the ongoing evolution of Mott MacDonald’s involvement in Africa, its South Africa and Lesotho infrastructure consultancy business – formerly Mott MacDonald Africa – was acquired by MPAMOT on 3 August 2020. This transformation to a women-owned, local led business provides the South African operation with a strong base for continued growth. The global group and MPAMOT have a strong cooperation arrangement and will continue to partner together in pursuing infrastructure projects in Africa.  The Mott MacDonald contracting and the international development unit in South Africa continues. The parties will cooperate in helping develop social and physical infrastructure across the rest of the continent.