Turner & Townsend has brought in former Sir Robert McAlpine MD Mike O’Donnell to lead its UK Project Management Consultancy service.

O’Donnell, who has nearly four decades’ experience delivering some of the UK’s biggest capital projects including the London 2012 Olympic Stadium, the O2 Arena and Bloomberg London, takes on the role of UK PMC Lead.

He is supported be two other recent contractor-side hires as T&T seeks to boost its project management consultancy.

Former Multiplex director Al Fernie, joined in April as project director to lead construction delivery across sectors including hyperscale data centres, healthcare, pharma and mixed-use commercial.

The other recent appointment to strengthen the leadership is former JRL technical director and Mace resi design director Jason Smith, who joined as director focused on data centre and technology schemes.

(L-r) Al Fernie and Jason Smith

The trio will support growing demand for T&T’s PMC delivery model, which integrates project management, construction management and cost consultancy to provide clients with greater transparency, shared risk and direct engagement with supply chain partners.

Chris Sargent, UK managing director for real estate at Turner & Townsend, said: “Programmes are becoming increasingly complex and clients are looking for support in navigating the industry’s challenges – from capacity crunches to evolving regulations, and from geopolitical tensions to viability concerns.

“A PMC delivery model provides the mechanism to coordinate and ensure oversight of the supply chain, allowing the team to identify and manage changing risks, but also opportunities for cost or schedule gains, for example.