Sweco is scaling its business operations in the Netherlands by buying two firms in the local engineering and architecture sector.

Sweden-based Sweco is one of Europe’s largest, and most profitable, engineering consultancies. The firm employs more than 18,000 professionals who generated annual revenues in excess of €1.9 billion as of 2020.

The first Dutch firm Sweco has picked up is Van Aken Eindhoven. It’s an architecture and engineering practice that has earned a reputation for creating high-tech building designs varnished with a futuristic look.

Van Aken Eindhoven has also worked on more conventional projects. The firm’s 50 professionals design both residential and commercial properties for clients.

The second Dutch firm Sweco has bought, JHK Architecten, is a smaller outfit. It has 20 experts based in the city of Utrecht and earned revenues of €2.9 million during 2020, compared with the  €5.8 million Van Aken Eindhoven generated the same year.

““By adding architecture services to our portfolio in the Netherlands, we will strengthen our client offering and thus also our contribution to society,” remarked Eugene Grüter, Sweco’s top executive in the Netherlands. “Together with our new colleagues, we will create even more value by delivering the most sustainable solutions.”

Acquisitions are part and parcel of Sweco’s growth strategy. The firm, which was founded in 1997 through the merger of two well-established Swedish engineering consultancies, has made more than 130 acquisitions over the past two and a half decades.

Alongside its numerous acquisitions, Sweco also racked up many notable engineering achievements over the years.

One of the standout constructions in Sweco’s project portfolio is the Øresund Bridge, which spans the strait separating Denmark and Sweden. The bridge, the longest of its kind in Europe, contains a motorway for cars as well as a railway.

The Øresund stretches above the water in a gentle curve before taking a plunge and turning into a subsea tunnel. Drivers cover about two thirds of the distance from Denmark to Sweden above the water and the remainder below it. 

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