Accenture has announced its agreement to acquire Soben, a global construction consultancy headquartered in Glasgow, Scotland. The acquisition aims to bolster Accenture's capabilities in capital projects, particularly in the rapidly growing data centre development sector, as well as the pharmaceutical and energy industries.

Soben, with a team of 250, provides services to major hyperscalers and co-location providers, including project management, cost management, and carbon cost management. The company operates across Western Europe, the US, Mexico, Brazil, India, and Australia. Soben's team will join Accenture's infrastructure and capital projects practice within Industry X.

The acquisition comes as Accenture research highlights significant challenges in delivering capital projects, with only 6% of organisations completing projects on schedule. The data centre market, driven by increasing cloud computing and AI demand, is experiencing substantial growth, with estimated annual spending exceeding $200 billion over the next three to five years.

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Steve Roberts, senior managing director at Accenture Industry X, stated: "The market for capital projects and especially data centres is growing rapidly, driven by ever-higher demand for cloud computing and AI and exponential data growth. Hyperscalers and co-location companies are under tremendous pressure to deliver on this demand. They need a provider that brings data centre expertise plus proven capital projects experience, which is what the combination of Soben and Accenture will stand for."

Maddie Walker, Accenture's Industry X lead in the UK, Ireland & Africa, added: "Soben will enhance our infrastructure and capital projects capabilities across Europe, particularly boosting our practice in the UK. With complex capital projects on the horizon, and increasing adoption of AI, the UK is positioning itself for growth – and the construction sector must ensure it has the innovative thinking, technology, and skills to lead the way. Together, Accenture and Soben bring leading minds in capital projects expertise and emerging technology together."

Scott Smyth, CEO at Soben, said: "By joining Accenture, we can realise that vision and offer fantastic opportunities for our people to grow their careers. We're looking forward to bringing Accenture's global reach and digital capabilities to our clients to help them scale their business fast and deliver exceptional outcomes for their capital projects."

This acquisition is part of Accenture's ongoing strategy to expand its infrastructure and capital projects capabilities, following previous acquisitions in the US, Canada, Spain, and Italy. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed, and the acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions.