Opinion | Arcadis chief: ‘We don’t like just being in the mix. We want to be a leader’
Sustainability design firm’s newly appointed Asia chief executive Matt Bennion says its global reach allows it to compete with anyone in the region
Arcadis Asia’s newly appointed chief executive Matt Bennion first became passionate about building projects in the 1980s as he watched his quantity surveyor father work on Singapore’s Marina Square development.
“I can remember going on site visits with him as a child and just going, ‘wow’. And ‘how do I become a part of this?’. And that was really my inspiration – that’s where my interest was sparked.”
Bennion took over the helm of the Asia arm of design and consultancy firm Arcadis in September after two and half years based in Hong Kong, as the company’s global business line director for buildings.
He’ll be leading the 4,000 staff based in Asia, a fair chunk of the company’s 27,000 staff worldwide, though those staffing numbers are down on two years ago after a company reorganisation.
Bennion is now focussed on helping Asian economies improve their liveability through a range of projects, from consulting on event spaces such as Kowloon West Cultural District, to helping cities like Wuhan, in central China, improve their flood resistance.
He considers consulting on Terminal 5 at London’s Heathrow Airport as one of his proudest moments, and one that he hopes will encourage his three kids to get excited about the infrastructure around them.