Celebrating 30 years of excellence, discover how JBA Consulting leverages partnerships and innovation to drive sustainable growth
With over 730 employees worldwide, JBA Consulting stands as one of the world’s leading environmental and engineering consultancies. The company specialises in providing high-level technical advice for environmental and risk management, with a focus on enhancing resilience for communities, the environment, and businesses. Clients benefit from JBA’s strong pedigree in technical excellence and delivery of practical solutions. The company further distinguishes itself through its dedication to collaboration and partnerships, which it forms with various stakeholders from academia to small- and medium-sized enterprises, as well as Voluntary, Community, and Social Enterprises (VCSEs). Marc Pinnell, Managing Director, elaborates on the vast range of services JBA offers, highlighting its versatile expertise.
“Our services encompass sustainability, environmental consulting, engineering, design-build, and construction supervision. I believe our pedigree is best known in the fields of modelling and assessment, including data analytics, analysis and prediction. A standout feature of our operations is the integration of our technology, data and software development teams across the business. This allows us to deliver technology-driven solutions directly to clients while also embedding these solutions within our engineering and environmental teams.
“Engineering services have been at the heart of JBA’s success throughout our 30-year history,” he continues. “Our engineering roots lie in rail and land drainage, where we built a strong reputation in the late 1990s through expertise in rail engineering, scour management and trusted partnerships with Network Rail and its delivery teams, alongside long-standing support for Internal Drainage Boards. But the past 15 years have seen engineering become a key driver of our growth. Initiatives such as our joint venture, JBA Bentley, have enabled us to expand our capabilities and deliver innovative solutions at scale, reinforcing engineering as a cornerstone of our continued development.
“Whilst we were once recognised as scour specialists – completing around 10,000 scour assessments and designing over 1000 protection schemes – we have since evolved to deliver a broad range of engineering technical specialisms. Today, our expertise spans hydraulic and structural design, flood risk management, asset inspection and condition assessment, geotechnical engineering, mechanical and electrical engineering and the design of sustainable drainage systems. We also provide innovative solutions for river and coastal defence, reservoir safety, and watercourse restoration,” he enlightens.
Creating connections
In 2025, JBA celebrated its 30th year in business. According to Marc, the company’s culture and values have played a crucial role in fuelling its success over the past three decades. “When we started the business 30 years ago, we established an ethos and core values centred on sharing, innovation and being different, all of which have stood us in good stead throughout this time. In line with these principles, we remain an employee-owned, independent business. This offers many benefits, including the freedom to determine our own path and invest in what we consider important, which allows us to innovate and stand out. Our success is reinvested in the business; we are not beholden to external shareholders, enabling us to measure our achievements in ways beyond mere financial returns. Consequently, we have successfully embraced different approaches, continued to evolve, and developed a highly sustainable business. Independence and collaboration are especially important to us. Our success is built on strong relationships not only with our clients but also with our supply chain partners. During our 30th anniversary celebrations, we recognised these partnerships and the organisations we have worked with. While we value the relationships we have sustained, we also look forward to creating new connections with organisations of various sizes,” he adds.
Complementary service offering
Industry partnerships are paramount to JBA Consulting and to Marc. In fact, the company’s feature in Construction & Civil Engineering comes in light of exciting news regarding its recent acquisition of Milestone Transport Planning. “Rather than an acquisition, I prefer to view this as a new partnership. Over its 21-year history, Milestone Transport Planning has built an exceptional reputation for delivering high-quality technical services with a client-centric approach in transport planning and highways design. As its founders sought to pass their legacy on to their team, we are pleased to be able to support Milestone Transport Planning in its new chapter and welcome it into the JBA family. The addition of transport planning and highways design to JBA will complement the services we offer to clients across the development and infrastructure sectors.
“Moreover, we believe that there is an opportunity for us to assist Milestone Transport Planning in its own growth and development by providing complementary services to its client base. This reflects our commitment to supporting small- and medium-sized enterprises on their journey, as we recognise that it was not long ago when we were a smaller organisation ourselves and we still remember what it was like. Our collaboration with Milestone Transport Planning comes from a desire to nurture a successful business and help it achieve its goals. Client and partnership relationships have evolved over the last 30 years and have been significant in contributing to our long-term success. A key relationship has been that with JN Bentley, with whom amongst other landmark projects, we recently completed a sizeable managed realignment scheme,” Marc explains.
Indeed, JBA has been in a partnership with civil engineering contractor JN Bentley since 2013. This collaboration led to the formation of a joint venture company specifically established to deliver integrated design and build services for the Environment Agency, a successful endeavour spanning over ten years. The recent project was part of a managed realignment initiative aimed at restoring habitats and intertidal zones along the Humber coastline.
The Outstrays to Skeffling Managed Realignment scheme created 170 hectares of intertidal habitat (saltmarsh and mudflats) and 87 hectares of supporting freshwater ‘wet grassland’. In addition to habitat creation, the project will reduce the risk of flooding for local communities and enable increased resilience for 400,000 residents living in the Humber flood plain.
As part of the Outstrays to Skeffling Managed Realignment scheme, JBA Bentley showcased its expertise in pumping station design by delivering a new facility equipped with three Archimedes screw pumps, advanced weed screening and waste handling systems, and a dedicated eel pass solution to ensure ecological compliance – all supported by a SIL Level 2-rated control system for safe and efficient operation.
Innovation, independence, and collaboration
One of JBA Bentley’s competitive advantages is its capability to provide safe and efficient fully integrated design and build services, primarily through its own design and construction resources. A key aspect of the collaboration with JN Bentley is this integrated approach, which is highly valued by clients. Both companies hold equal partner status within the joint venture, a structure that is uncommon in the industry. As a result of this arrangement, their successes are shared and their teams are jointly motivated, dedicated to delivering the best outcomes for clients. The joint venture’s ability to rely on JBA’s own design resources helps reduce the risk of delays, thus enabling the two companies to be more flexible in terms of design and innovative construction solutions that may not be available in traditional design-and-construct relationships. Central to this success is a common culture and strong relationships built between both teams.
Fostering partnerships and maintaining its independent status have been key to JBA’s growth and innovation over the past three decades. The company’s collaborative spirit not only strengthens its market position but also enhances the value it delivers to clients across diverse sectors.
Marc concludes: “Our 30-year milestone is not just a celebration of the past, but a springboard for the future. We’ve grown by staying true to our values – innovation, independence, and collaboration – and by building strong relationships with clients and partners. As we look forward, our ambition is clear: to continue delivering sustainable, technology-driven solutions that help tackle the challenges of climate resilience and infrastructure for generations to come.”