Amey’s consulting chief brings cross-industry leadership, data-driven strategy, and a vision for stronger infrastructure delivery across defence, aviation, rail, and public services.
London, UK, 28 November 2025 – Colin Wood, the newly appointed managing director of Amey’s consulting division, has built his career on navigating complex environments. With more than 20 years in the Royal Air Force and 15 years in air traffic control, his background is far from traditional engineering. Yet this unusual path is precisely what gives him the perspective he believes Amey needs.
“I’m not an engineer, designer, or architect, but I’ve worked with big, complex infrastructure problems,” he says. “I’ve worked inside government, outside government, client side, and delivery side.”
That breadth of experience now supports Amey’s mission as it aligns its operations under the company’s One Amey strategy, an approach designed to unify services, strengthen delivery capability, and support the UK’s long-term infrastructure ambitions.
Amey’s work spans strategic programme management, digital transformation, advisory, data science, sustainable design, engineering, decarbonisation, and energy transition. These capabilities power three core divisions: complex facilities, transport infrastructure, and consulting, the latter of which Wood describes as “the heart of the business.”
By aligning its delivery and consulting arms more tightly, Amey aims to drive smarter, faster, and more resilient project outcomes at a time when the UK’s infrastructure demands are greater than ever.
As the UK pushes ahead with ambitious national infrastructure plans, Wood acknowledges a challenging landscape shaped by shifting political priorities, tight budgets, and widespread skills shortages. His goal is to help build a stronger leadership pipeline for the industry and ensure Amey is positioned to support the country through a period of intense transformation.
In the defence sector, Amey’s longstanding role is especially critical. The UK’s defence budget has risen to £60.2 billion, and aligning the defence estate with strategic goals requires smarter asset management. Wood highlights the value of data in this mission.
“We manage a huge amount of operational and asset data,” he explains. “By bringing that into the consulting space and pairing it with smart digital tools, you can become far more predictive. That means spending money better and getting more benefits back.”
Beyond defence, Wood points to aviation as another sector requiring holistic, strategy-led thinking. Amey’s deep involvement with Heathrow Airport, particularly in sustainability, asset transformation, and strategic planning, positions the consultancy at the center of major national discussions. As plans progress for a third runway at Heathrow and expansion at Gatwick, Wood emphasizes the importance of integrating transport, passenger flow, climate resilience, and regional economic development into every decision.
The rail sector offers another example of how Amey’s approach is evolving. Its work on the Transpennine Route Upgrade has combined complex engineering with social value initiatives, engaging more than 27,500 STEM students and hosting nearly 40 degree apprenticeships. Amey and its partner Keolis also began operating and maintaining the Docklands Light Railway earlier this year, where data insights are helping shift from reactive maintenance to predictive asset management.
Skills and the flow of knowledge will remain a priority. Amey plans to double its intake of early-career talent in 2026 after welcoming more than 100 apprentices, graduates, and placement students in 2025. Wood sees this as essential for long-term industry resilience, especially as digital-native talent drives innovation through reverse mentoring and cross-sector skills transfer.
Instead of losing skilled people during market downturns, Wood wants the industry to rethink how talent is deployed. “What we should be looking at is taking those core skills and asking: what other markets can we apply these to? That builds certainty and gives people variety.”
For Wood, alignment is the key to unlocking progress. “Clients and infrastructure deliverers are completely aligned, we all want to deliver infrastructure,” he says. “Once we start the momentum and build confidence, we can deliver some really good things across the UK.”
