Egis, the French engineering and consulting firm, has appointed Mark Docherty as energy director for its UK and Ireland operations, a move that signals the company's bid to capture expanding opportunities in grid modernisation and renewable energy infrastructure across the region. Docherty, based in Edinburgh, brings 38 years of experience in the energy sector and joins from Arcadis, where he served as global offshore wind practice lead and partner alongside his role as UK sector leader for networks and energy. The appointment comes as Egis, which posted EUR 2.39 billion in revenue in 2025 and maintains a record order backlog of EUR 5.4 billion, aggressively expands its presence in the UK and Ireland energy markets.
Joanne Moran, Egis's sustainable resources director for the UK and Ireland, characterised Docherty's appointment as a strategic move to drive expansion of the firm's energy capabilities across the region. Moran noted that Docherty's experience across offshore wind, networks and major infrastructure programmes, combined with his track record in team building and business development, would strengthen Egis's position in the sector. Docherty said in a statement that the energy sector is undergoing a historic transformation shaped by energy security concerns, electrification, and digitalisation. No executive search firm involvement was disclosed in the announcement.
Docherty's career trajectory reflects deep roots in UK energy infrastructure. Before joining Arcadis more than 11 years ago, he held senior leadership roles at Turner & Townsend, the global programme management consultancy; SSE plc, the Perth-based multinational electricity company; and Scottish Power, the utility focused on renewables and networks. His tenure at SSE and Scottish Power provided exposure to both utility operations and renewable energy development, while Turner & Townsend experience gave him programme and project management expertise in major infrastructure programmes. At Arcadis, he built a global offshore wind practice while simultaneously overseeing the UK networks and energy sector, positioning him as a figure familiar with the complex technical and commercial requirements of modern grid infrastructure and renewable energy development.
Egis itself has become an increasingly significant player in UK and Irish infrastructure, though it remains less conspicuous than competitors like Arcadis or Atkins. The French group, headquartered in Guyancourt and partially owned by private equity firm Tikehau Capital alongside France's Caisse des Dépôts, operates across architecture, consulting, construction engineering, operations and mobility services in more than 70 countries with 23,500 employees. Egis explicitly targets the UK and Ireland as a strategic anglophone hub for European expansion, and the company has pursued acquisitions to strengthen its footprint, including the 2021 purchase of Collaborative Project Management Services and more recently UK rail firm Overhead Line Engineering. The firm aspires to join the world's top 10 engineering companies and double revenue to exceed EUR 4 billion by 2029.
The appointment reflects converging pressures on UK and Irish energy infrastructure. Both governments and network operators prioritise energy security and grid investment amid rising electrification demands, particularly offshore wind development and transmission network expansion. By installing a figure with deep offshore wind and network experience, Egis signals intent to compete for major infrastructure consulting work in these growth areas. Industry analysts suggest that Docherty's familiarity with both utility perspectives and consulting approaches positions him to pursue integrated programmes combining design, engineering and delivery across grid modernisation and renewable energy projects. Whether the appointment will significantly raise Egis's market visibility against larger competitors such as Arcadis and Atkins in the UK and Ireland energy sector remains to be seen, though the scale of Egis's global order backlog and ongoing acquisition strategy suggest the firm is mobilising resources for sustained competition in these markets.
