The UK’s Atkins has been selected to work as the lead engineering consultant for one of the international consortiums working on the Riyadh Metro project.

The UK consultant will work alongside Spain’s Tecnica y Proyectos (Typsa) on the engineering for the FAST consortium, which was awarded the $7.82bn turnkey contract for lines 4,5 and 6 in July this year.

The other consortium members are:

• FCC Construcciones (Spain)
• Alstom Transport (France)
• Samsung C&T (South Korea)
• Freyssinet (local)
• Strukton Civiel Projecten (The Netherlands)
• SETEC (France).

Atkins is one of the world’s biggest engineering design consultancies with about 17,500 staff worldwide. It has been operating in the region since the 1970s with much of its activity in the region coming from its building design and architecture practice. Since the Gulf real estate crash in 2009 however, the company has shifted its focus in the region to civil engineering and infrastructure projects, with rail projects a particular focus.

Atkins currently has 11 offices in the region employing about 1,979 staff. Atkins’ Middle East had revenues of $262.3m in the 12 months to 31 March 2013.

Its portfolio of recent projects in the region includes:

• Al-Mashaaer al-Mugaddassah Metro in Mecca
• Lusail Light Rail Transit System in Qatar
• Downtown Dubai West and Business Bay Visioning.