Blog

Skilled & Enterprise Providers Council appoints Alan Belfield

Alan Belfield, Chairman, Professional and Business Services Council

The chairman of the engineering company Arup has been appointed the new joint chairman of the Professional & Business Services Council. Alan Belfield will become Business Chair of the organization representing the UK business services industry.

On the news, Alan Belfield said, “The professional and business services sector is vital to the government’s agenda in many ways – from achieving net zero emissions to reducing regional inequalities to boosting international exports. The PBSC has played an important role in building better understanding between business and government in recent years. I look forward to building on this foundation and working closely together to ensure the full potential of the sector as an important part of the country’s post-Covid recovery and help the country move towards Net Zero. “

Belfield has been Chairman of the Arup Group since 2019. He joined the company in 1992 and his previous experience with the company included leading the group’s operations in the UK, Middle East and Africa. A trained mechanical engineer, Alan built up the company’s consulting business with specialists in management consulting, planning and technology during his 27-year career at Arup.

Prior to Arup, Belfield spent an additional seven years at Hawtal Whiting, where he achieved the rank of Executive Engineer before moving into the consulting industry. In 1981 he received his PhD in Stress Analysis from the University of Nottingham.

Representing one of the UK’s largest sectors, the PBSC is an industry-government partnership spanning accounting, actuarial, advertising, architecture, consulting, engineering, law, recruiting and surveying. The council works closely with industry leaders, trade associations and professional associations to ensure that the voice of the sector is heard by the government. With 4.7 million employees, its production is vital to the UK economy, adding gross value of £ 217 billion in 2020 alone.

Successor to Nick Owen, UK Chairman of Deloitte, who has co-chaired it since 2016, Belfield will co-chair the Professional & Business Services Council (PBSC) with Lord Grimstone, Joint Investment Secretary for DIT and BEIS. Belfield will also work closely with Vice-Chair Sally Jones. As a Trade Strategy Partner at EY, she has extensive industry knowledge and has worked on all of the Council’s activities.

Belfield added, “Sally has headed the PBSC Secretariat for the past five years … and will be of great help in bringing PBS leadership together, working together on high-impact initiatives, and building on the council’s relationship with the government.”