Consultant providing assistance on strategies for hospitals, power plants and sport centres r on Greek and Mexican PPPs

Consultant Currie & Brown has been drafted in by the governments of Greece and Mexico to advise on PPP.

Its teams will explain how to organise, design, build and operate contracts for hospitals, schools, fire departments, power plants and sports facilities. The firm鈥檚 PPP procurement advice service accounts for 20% of its 拢52m turnover.

The firm has completed two contracts with the Mexican government, providing consultancy services for procuring an Olympic training facility in the city of Leon and a hydroelectric dam in the state of Guanajuato. The consultant has opened an office in Mexico and there are plans to launch an office in Greece.

Santiago Klein, a director at Currie & Brown, said most of the staff in Mexico and Greece would be Mexican or Greek. He said: 鈥淭hey鈥檙e mostly local professionals, almost all of whom have been educated in the UK. It鈥檚 better that they鈥檙e local, to overcome language and cultural barriers.鈥

Klein added that, in its field, Currie & Brown was unique in offering this service. 鈥淭he companies we鈥檙e up against are businesses like KPMG and Pricewaterhouse Coopers, not construction consultants like us. To provide this service you have to offer a great knowledge base of technological, financial, legal and regulatory advice. There are few companies that can offer expertise on all these like us.鈥

Steve Prior, a director at Currie & Brown, said: 鈥淩ecent successes on the concession consultancy and technical advisory side play a major part in our long-term growth strategy. Continued growth in developing markets overseas will present many more opportunities.鈥

Currie & Brown reported a pre-tax profit of 拢1.2m for the year ending 31 March 2005, a 109% increase from the previous year, when it reported a figure of 拢581,000. Turnover last year was 拢54.5m, compared with 拢44m the previous year. The firm also said that 80% of its future order book had been secured.

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