US engineer Thornton Tomasetti has closed on the acquisition of MFD Security Consulting in Sydney, Australia, a company that specialises in physical, operational and technical security services for the built environment. The entity was previously affiliated with MFD International, which was acquired by Thornton Tomasetti in 2018.
Thornton Tomasetti said the deal strengthens its protective design and security service offering in Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia.
MFD has designed counter-terrorist measures for high-profile facilities throughout Australia. These include hostile vehicle mitigation programmes at Melbourne’s Flinders Street Station (pictured), Federation Square and the Melbourne and Olympic Parks, blast assessment for the Sydney Metro project, and security design for crowded and public spaces in Brisbane and Queensland’s Gold Coast.
Heng Jiang Cheng, former director of MFD Security Consulting, joins Thornton Tomasetti as associate director and security services lead for the region.
"MFD’s expertise, along with an extensive background in crash and blast testing, fits in especially well with Thornton Tomasetti’s capabilities in physical security analysis, advice and design," he said.
Thornton Tomasetti said the acquisition extends its reach in the Australian market by capitalising on MFD’s previous exposure to UK government-funded vehicle crash testing and research programmes.
Image: MFD Security Consulting designed civil footings to accommodate shallow mount static bollards at Melbourne’s Flinders Street Station. The project was the first heritage-listed railway station in Australia to have wide-scale deployment of PAS 68 certified vehicle security barriers on a suspended slab (Photograph by Impress Photography/Courtesy of Thornton Tomasetti)
