MBB Group welcomes Arnaud Deutsch and Sean Laidlaw
Having recently celebrated its ten-year anniversary, infrastructure consultancy MBB Group continues to go from strength-to-strength, welcoming new leaders across its regional footprint.
Established in 2014, MBB Group provides end-to-end infrastructure project support covering strategy, development, delivery, and operations from offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Auckland.
The latter office is now being led by Arnaud Deutsch, who has joined the firm as a director from WSP, while Sean Laidlaw comes on board as the Queensland executive director of iPLAN Consulting following its recent merger with MBB Group.
Led by managing director Matthew Brook, MBB Group has since its founding in September of 2014 grown to a team of more than 170 project specialists, together helping to deliver critical infrastructure in areas such as transport, precincts, energy, and education – including work on Sydney’s historic WestConnex tunnel project as the company’s first ever road contract.
Arnaud Deutsch
Deutsch spent the past two and a half years as an advisory technical director at WSP, before which he served as regional manager for RPS among other senior roles across his 25-year career.
“MBB Group is a dynamic business with a great depth of experience delivering large, complex infrastructure projects via a range of commercial models, and has a great ability to deliver value for money across diverse projects on a broad sweep of industries,” Deutsch said of his excitement to join. “I look forward to working with the team to bring new perspectives to new projects.”
Sean Laidlaw
Meanwhile, Laidlaw crosses from Jacobs as iPLAN Consulting’s executive director for Queensland based out of Brisbane, where he’ll operate with a national focus including leadership over Victoria. Alongside his past eight years at Jacobs, Laidlaw has also served as a part-time lecturer at the Queensland University of Technology, and brings more than 25 years of experience to the firm.
“Sean strengthens our offer nationally as part of our executive leadership team,” stated iPLAN founder Shane Chidgzey. “We’re excited to be able to leverage his experience and insights for both iPLAN’s clients and, through our new relationship with MBB Group, some very exciting projects in emerging industries. I’m confident Sean will no doubt provide an added layer of confidence.”
A warm welcome
In welcoming its new recruits, MBB Group cited Laidlaw’s expertise in project controls and cost management, as well as leadership of multidisciplinary teams on landmark projects across a range of sectors, including infrastructure, transport, resources, and aviation, while Deutsch was noted for excelling in project management, project controls finance, and dispute resolution.
Speaking on the dual senior appointments, Brook stated: “This strengthens our offer across Australia and New Zealand. It’s a very strong finish to the year for us and a recognition for the business that we’re doing a lot of the right things right. It sets us up for a very positive start to the new year, with our individual and now combined strengths offered through iPLAN Consulting.”
