Engineer is one of the first firms to sign up as member of government鈥檚 Northern Powerhouse Partnership Programme

Nick Roberts Atkins

Atkins has become one of the first five official partners of the Northern Powerhouse.

The consultant joins property and infrastructure investor Peel Group, Manchester Airport, North Wales Business Council and Northern Power Women as founding members of the government鈥檚 Northern Powerhouse Partnership Programme.

The partnership aims to bring together businesses, institutions and organisations to help grow the Northern economy.

Speaking to 黑洞社区 last week, Atkins鈥 UK and Europe CEO Nick Roberts said the Northern Powerhouse 鈥渞emains interesting鈥 and added: 鈥淚t鈥檚 important for the UK and for our business going forward.鈥

He said there is 鈥渟till plenty of activity at local and regional level鈥 and 鈥渁 whole bunch of work鈥 in the north, including high-profile infrastructure projects such as HS2, HS3 and the Transpennine Tunnel.

Commenting on the appointment of the five partners, Northern Powerhouse minister James Wharton said: 鈥淲e鈥檙e clear we must work closely with businesses, universities and other organisations to pool the abundance of talent on offer across the North.鈥

He added: 鈥淚 am calling on our local leaders to join us in this quest to make the Northern Powerhouse an even better place to live, work and invest in.鈥