'Another key step in strengthening our position': Northern Ireland engineering firm continues to expand UK footprint with second acquisition in under a year
AM Consulting Engineers has bought Brighton-based Haworth McCall, adding eight staff to its workforce as it targets more than 100 employees over the next three years
Northern Ireland’s AM Consulting Engineers (AMCE) has completed its second acquisition in under a year as it continues to expand its operations across the UK.
The Belfast-headquartered consultancy has acquired structural and civil engineering design firm Haworth McCall, which has teams in Brighton and Belfast. Formed in Brighton in 2014, Haworth McCall is known for its work in low-carbon and sustainable design, conservation engineering, and structural design for multi-storey and high-end commercial and residential buildings.
AMCE’s latest acquisition, advised by Turley Legal, comes less than 12 months after it acquired Coventry-based civil and structural engineering firm Bridges Pound, which saw the firm double its workforce. The acquisition of Haworth McCall and its eight staff members brings AMCE’s headcount to 50, with the company expanding onto a second floor at its NI headquarters in Jennymount Business Park, where it relocated in 2025.
AMCE, which also has an office in Cork city, plans to grow its team to more than 100 staff over the next three years. The company was established in Belfast in 2021 as a specialist civil engineering consultancy before rapidly expanding its services to also offer structural and geotechnical engineering across the water, wastewater, transportation, building, and broader infrastructure sectors.
Its second acquisition follows a period of significant activity, including work with main contractor BAM Ireland on the £82m Narrow Water Bridge project. AMCE designed the project's complex temporary works, which will facilitate the installation of the final bridge elements in 2027. The company was also recently recognised at the Irish Construction Excellence Awards for its work on the Enfield Wastewater Treatment Works for Coffey on behalf of Uisce Éireann.
Aidan McCarthy, MD of AM Consulting Engineers, said: “This acquisition is another key step in strengthening our position as a leading multidisciplinary engineering consultancy, recognised for our technical expertise, solutions-focused approach and commitment to delivering for clients across the UK and Ireland.
“Haworth McCall has built an excellent reputation, with a highly skilled team and expertise that complements our own, particularly in low-carbon, sustainable design and historic and conservation engineering. Bringing our two companies together significantly adds to the expertise we can offer our clients and will also create new opportunities for our people to work across a wider range of ambitious and complex projects.”
Desmond McCall, partner and MD of Haworth McCall, continued: “Haworth McCall has built its reputation over more than a decade through the quality of our work and the strength of our team. I’m delighted that our new colleagues at AM Consulting Engineers share that commitment to technical excellence and a clear ambition for the future.
“Brighton and the southeast of England is one of the UK’s most progressive regions and, by joining forces with AMCE, we have an opportunity to build on our work here and across Northern Ireland and play a greater role in addressing some of the major challenges facing the built environment, including water infrastructure, sustainable design, housing, and climate change. This will create exciting new opportunities for our people as we build on the expertise, client base, relationships and reputation we already have worked hard to establish.”
Congratulating AM Consulting Engineers on their continued growth, Susan O’Kane, Invest Northern Ireland’s head of regional business for the Belfast City region, Invest NI, explained: “AM Consulting Engineers has shown impressive ambition since it was established in Belfast just a few years ago. It has grown significantly, created high-quality jobs, and built a strong reputation for its specialist engineering expertise on major infrastructure projects. We have been pleased to support the company’s development, helping AMCE to invest in its people and win new business across the UK and Ireland. This acquisition is another important milestone for the company, expanding its expertise and reach and supporting its continued growth from its north Belfast base.”
Other recent high-profile projects undertaken by AM Consulting Engineers include acting as structural engineer on the restoration of the Grade A-listed Clarence Chambers Building on Belfast’s Donegall Square East into Margot Belfast; and working with Coffey on the Terryland Water Treatment Plant on the River Corrib, safeguarding Galway City’s drinking water supply.
Recent projects undertaken across the southeast of England and NI by Haworth McCall include structural and civil engineering design for a 34-unit housing development for a housing association at Kingston House Gardens in Leatherhead, a new Youth Hub at Heathfield for East Sussex County Council and conversion and change of use of the former Phoenix Brewery Office in Brighton, East Sussex, to a community facility for Hyde Housing Association.