News releases

Atkins appoints new managing director for India - 28 January 2013

Atkins has appointed Rajesh Kalra as managing director for its Indian business as it continues to expand its worldwide design centre based in Bangalore.

Chris Birdsong, CEO, Asia Pacific and Europe, said: "Given the strategic importance of Atkins' Indian operations, we were determined to bring in a highly capable individual to  build on the  success we have enjoyed over the past 15 years since we opened our Bangalore office. I'm confident that in Rajesh, we've found the right candidate. He has tremendous gravitas, practical industry knowledge and he understands that our focus is always on exceeding our clients' expectations."

Rajesh added: "Atkins' Bangalore office is a well-established design centre but it's my job to build on that success and make sure the quality of operations keeps improving. There are several things sitting in my in-tray, including the need to maintain our attractiveness to new recruits as the Indian market has high calibre engineering skills that we can take advantage of. This will help us to ensure our Bangalore operation remains flexible and efficient, providing expert engineers quickly in order to meet our customers' expectations worldwide."

Rajesh joins Atkins from Rolta India Limited where as the President of business operations he was responsible for growth and leading change management initiatives. In a career spanning 25 years in the engineering and IT sectors, he has also held key roles with Risk Management Solutions Inc. (RMSI), RITES, Consulting Engineering Services (I) Pvt. Ltd. and Larsen & Toubro. He holds a Masters degree in civil engineering.

Atkins has over 1000 multi-disciplinary engineers based in India, supporting a large number of sectors such as water, transportation, utilities and aerospace across the UK, Middle East and Asia Pacific.

India is part of Atkins' Asia Pacific region, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.

Ends

For more information:

Christina Zhuang
Head of communications, Asia Pacific 		christina.zhuang@atkinsglobal.com
+852 2972 1558
Andy Winstanley
Head of Group PR 		andy.winstanley@atkinsglobal.com
+44 1372 752018/+44 7803 259643 

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Notes to editors:

Atkins (www.atkinsglobal.com) is one of the world's leading design, engineering and project management consultancies*, employing some 17,700 people across the UK, North America, Middle East, Asia Pacific and Europe. It has the breadth and depth of expertise to plan, design and enable some of the world's most technically challenging and time critical infrastructure projects.

*14th largest global design firm (Engineering News-Record 2012), the largest global architecture firm (BD World Architecture 100 2012) and the largest multidisciplinary consultancy in Europe (Svensk Teknik och Design 2011).

Atkins is working across urban regeneration, master planning, national energy programmes, major transport schemes, water and environment projects - applying smart design solutions on projects including:

  • Doha Central Planning Office - helping to co-ordinate Qatar's National 2030 Vision for world class transport infrastructure, which will bring major benefits to the economy;
  • The London 2012 Games infrastructure transformation - as technical advisor to London's boroughs as the Olympic Park moves into its legacy configuration as a follow-on role to our work as the Games' official engineering and design provider;
  • UAE's peaceful nuclear new build programme - providing technical assurance to lenders backing the United Arab Emirates' most ambitious energy infrastructure projects;
  • North Sea and Gulf of Mexico oil and gas platforms - extending the operational life of critical oil and gas platforms to allow cost-efficient and safe recovery of fuel sources from mature fields;
  • SSE offshore wind alliance - provision of expert engineering and design support for the UK's biggest offshore wind alliance with Scottish and Southern Energy;
  • Crossrail - designing the Central London twin tunnels and station architecture for Europe's biggest civil engineering scheme which will see tunnels passing beneath 470 listed buildings and critical infrastructure;
  • Etihad Railway - providing multidisciplinary design expertise on the 1,200 km Etihad Rail network which will revolutionise passenger and freight transport in the UAE;
  • Denmark ERTMS - providing multidisiplinary signalling expertise on the first countrywide installation of an ERTMS train control and management system in Denmark;
  • Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge - lead consultant on this integral part of the new Hong Kong link road scheme which will significantly boost land connectivity in the region;
  • Lowestoft Sixth Form College - design of the ultralow energy consumption Lowestoft College in the UK which aims to reduce operational energy use by more than 60% compared to previous designs;
  • UK National Composites Centre - providing technical expertise to bring the latest lightweight carbon fibre materials to all engineering sectors, helping to develop innovative applications and reduce costs and carbon;
  • US Environmental Protection Agency - providing technical assessment and analysis of national water-related resources and ecological systems in North America.
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