A merger with the Western Australian arm of urban and landscape design practice Tract (WA) has given urban planning advisory firm UrbisJHD, soon to be Urbis, a foot in the door for WA expansion.
A merger with the Western Australian arm of urban and landscape design practice Tract (WA) has given urban planning advisory firm UrbisJHD, soon to be Urbis, a foot in the door for WA expansion.
Tract (WA), once affiliated with Victoria-based Tract Consultants, was acquired in a share-for-share deal with the company, Urbis managing director Michael Barlow told WA Business News today.
Mr Barlow said the company was looking to expand rapidly once established, starting with its urban planning and urban design arms - with an introduction of the company's social planning arm soon afterwards.
"The market's very sound in WA," he said.
The merged company will commence trading in Perth on June 1.
The full text of a company announcement is pasted below
Western Australia's leading urban design and landscape design practice, TRACT (WA), is joining UrbisJHD, Australia's premier independent advisory firm focusing on the built, social and economic environments.
Urbis Managing Director Mr Michael Barlow also announced that effective 1 June the merged business will be known as Urbis. The Urbis brand will replace the existing UrbisJHD and Urbis Keys Young business names across Australia and internationally.
TRACT (WA) is famous for working on some of the biggest public urban development projects in the West, as well as major international projects. They were key consultants in the urban design of the East Perth re-development and are currently involved in the urbanisation of the heritage Midland Railway complex.
Mr Barlow said the merger with TRACT (WA) would extend the range of valuable and complementary business skills offered by Urbis, especially in the areas of urban regeneration, international projects and new communities.
"Urbis is focused on solving the problems generated by our increasingly complex urban environments and the TRACT (WA) team coming on board will make Urbis an even more formidable player in the urban development marketplace," Mr Barlow said.
With more than 270 staff in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Dubai, the merged business, Urbis, will have an impressive ability to deliver 'end-to-end' solutions through a service offering spanning:
- Urban planning;
- Social planning and research;
- Urban design;
- Property economics;
- Consumer research;
- Property advisory;
- Valuations;
- Landscape architecture;
- Environmental services; and
- Telecommunications planning.
"The new venture with Urbis allows more design input at the very inception of a project so that along with the planners we will deliver innovative, environmentally sustainable and spectacular projects," Mr Pullyblank said.
"Currently, we are usually brought into projects once the planning has commenced, limiting our most beneficial contribution. This will give us the chance to introduce a stronger component of design to projects.
"This merger gives us improved access to markets in particular the east coast Of Australia, Asia and the Middle East," Mr Pullyblank concluded.
Mr Barlow said: "The merger with TRACT (WA) highlights the vast scope of professional services offered by the merged business across many disciplines and service lines.
"That's why this is an opportune time to consolidate the various brands under the name Urbis, for consistency and simplicity.
"The Perth office will commence operations as Urbis on 1 June 2007 with the new branding for the remainder of the company being rolled out over the next six weeks," Mr Barlow said.
