Market Briefing – April/May 2009 issue

- Contaminated land: surviving the crunch. Drawing on results from the Environment Analyst consultancy benchmark survey, Rob Bell and Liz Trew report on how environmental consultancies active in the site assessment sector are coping with the tough times

- Stephanie Wray: Hyder executive interview. Hyder Environment’s UK managing director Stephanie Wray speaks with Erin Gill about responding to the recession, valuing technical professional expertise and championing environmental consultancy in a multi-sector firm.

- Carbon management opportunities. A new mandatory carbon reporting and trading scheme for major nonindustrial organisations promises not only to be an important new market in compliance but also a major opportunity for environmental consultancies in the UK to grow their carbon management services in overseas markets. Geraint Roberts reports on how consultancies and their clients are gearing up for the Carbon Reduction Commitment.

- Climate change consulting defies the downturn. The global market for climate change consultancy services stands at $1.9 billion and is expected to double in five years, fully accounting for the financial meltdown of 2008, according to new research.

- Is the water industry recession-proof? When recession hit, environmental consultancies looked around and thought ‘water’. But as economic conditions have worsened the water industry has sought to distance itself from any suggestion that it can single-handedly support the country’s increasingly idle engineers, designers and environmental consultants. Erin Gill investigates

- City view – Q1 trading and market developments. Share-price volatility is still prevalent amongst the quoted consultants, although recent trading updates have gone some way to reassure investors that companies are acting to manage areas of weakness and have provided some short-term stimulus to share prices. David Brockton, director of equity research at Arbuthnot Securities, reviews the market situation for the first quarter of 2009 and anticipates how the City may react over the coming months.