# Sinclair Knight Merz

Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM) was a private Australian company operating across Asia-Pacific, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The company had global capability in strategic consulting, engineering and project delivery. In 2013 the business was purchased by Jacobs and the brand retired.

## History

Sinclair Knight Merz was founded in 1964 in Sydney by Bruce Sinclair and Jack Knight. In 1996 it merged with Merz Australia to form Sinclair Knight Merz.
In 1999, SKM merged with Kingston Morrison of New Zealand and Modus Consulting Engineers from the United Kingdom.
In the early 2000s further merges occurred with HS Liao of Malaysia, Murray North of Singapore, Ingenco, and Kirkman & Bradford in Scotland. In 2004 the Overseas Projects Corporation of Victoria was purchased from the Government of Victoria along with CCD Australia. Minmetal of Chile was purchased in 2005 and HBH of Perth in 2006.
In October 2011 the rail division of Mouchel was purchased. In September 2013 Jacobs agreed terms to purchase the business with the transaction completed in December 2013 and the brand retired.

## Controversies

SKM faced criminal charges between 2006 and 2011 for suspected bribing of officials in Vietnam, and between 2000 and mid-2005 in the Philippines. Jacobs became aware of conduct whilst conducting due diligence ahead of it purchasing SKM and self reported to the Australian Federal Police. In September 2023 the Supreme Court of New South Wales imposed a fine of $1.4 million.

## Notable projects

* El Teniente, Chile (engineering and design)
* Hume Highway, Australia (road, bridge, drainage design and environmental management)
* Irrigation Modernisation Project, Victoria, Australia (engineering design and program management))
* Eden Project (structural and civil design)
* Athens Olympic Stadium (structural design)
* Wembley Stadium redevelopment (seating and roof design)
* Gold Coast Desalination Plant (engineering and design)
* Port upgrade, Dampier, Western Australia (engineering, procurement and construction management)
* The Roundhouse, London (structural engineering and roof design)
* Project Seabird – Indian naval base (planning, design, civil and construction supervision services)
* Dublin Light Rail system (track, civil, structural and building design)
* Hobart class destroyer program (detail design, marine engineering, risk management, infrastructure engineering)
* Albury-Wodonga Hume Freeway bypass (design)
* Central Motorway Junction, Auckland, New Zealand (strategic planning and project delivery)
* Sydney Desalination Plant
vteIStructE Supreme Award laureates :
YearWinning organisationWinning structure
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
Gifford
Dewhurst Macfarlane & Partners / Goldreich Engineering
Not Awarded
Dar Al-Handasah Consultants
Buro Happold & engineers Haskins Robinson Waters
Arup
Expedition Engineering
Arup
Expedition Engineering
Flint & Neill and Sinclair Knight Merz
Jiangsu Provincial Comms Planning and Design Institute & Aecom
Eckersley O'Callaghan
Arup
Fast + Epp
Jacobs Engineering Group
Leonhardt, Andrä und Partner
Buro Happold & Schlaich Bergermann Partner
Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Gateshead, England
David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Pittsburgh, United States
Not Awarded
Sungai Prai Bridge, Perai, Malaysia
Savill Building, Surrey, England
Heathrow Terminal 5, London, England
Infinity Bridge, Stockton-on-Tees, England
Stonecutters Bridge, Hong Kong, China
London Velodrome, London, England
West Gate Bridge strengthening, Melbourne, Australia
Taizhou Bridge, Taizhou, China
Glass Lantern, Apple Store, Zorlu Center, Istanbul, Turkey
Singapore Sports Hub, Singapore
Grandview Heights Aquatic Centre, Surrey, British Columbia
British Airways i360, Brighton, England
Tamina Bridge, Pfäfers, Canton of St Gallen, Switzerland
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium :