Associate Cost Consultant – Independent Cost Validation & Assurance

Arcadis; Greater London; On-site; GBP 55,000 - 85,000; Full time

Job summary

Arcadis is seeking an experienced Associate Cost Consultant to join our Infrastructure team, reviewing and challenging estimates for major regulated programmes in energy, water, and rail. You will benchmark against historical data, interrogate rates, quantities and productivity, and normalise costs across scope and conditions.

You’ll communicate findings to clients and senior stakeholders. You’ll combine detailed estimate review with benchmarking and cost validation to support informed

Qualifications

• Strong experience in civil engineering estimating, cost planning or infrastructure cost analysis.
• Experience across major or regulated infrastructure, ideally energy, utilities, water or rail.
• A track record of reviewing and challenging estimates prepared by others.
• Strong knowledge of CESMM4, unit-rate build-ups and construction methodologies.
• Experience with cost benchmarking, WBS/CBS reconciliation and historical cost analysis.
• Good understanding of productivity, risk, contingency and the factors that drive infrastructure costs.
• Advanced Excel skills and confidence working with complex cost datasets.
• Strong technical judgement with the confidence to constructively challenge assumptions and explain your findings clearly.
• Experience of Ofgem-regulated networks, NEC contracts, regulatory cost assessment or AACE estimating practices would be particularly valuable.
• A relevant degree or equivalent industry experience is expected, with professional membership such as RICS, ICE, CIOB or ACostE

Responsibilities

• Reviewing and challenging contractor and designer estimates, including scope, quantities, rates, allowances and risk.
• Interrogating unit rates, labour, plant, materials, productivity, preliminaries and indirect costs.
• Benchmarking estimates against historical projects, cost databases and industry evidence.
• Normalising costs for differences in scope, location, design maturity, market conditions and construction methodology.
• Interpreting and reconciling different WBS/CBS structures and measurement conventions.
• Applying structured estimate review and validation approaches, including AACE 31R-03 and 110R-20.
• Preparing clear cost assurance reports and presenting findings to clients and senior stakeholders.

Skills

Civil estimating

Cost planning

Infrastructure cost analysis

CESMM4

Unit-rate build-ups

Excel advanced

Regulatory knowledge

AACE practices

Education

Degree in civil engineering

Professional membership (RICS/ICE/CIOB/ACostE)

Tools

Excel

Cost databases

Job description

Arcadis is the world's leading company delivering sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets.

We are more than 34,000 people, in over 30 countries, dedicated to improving quality of life. Everyone has an important role to play. With the power of many curious minds, together we can solve the world’s most complex challenges and deliver more impact together.

Role description:

We’re looking for an experienced Associate Cost Consultant to join our Infrastructure team, supporting major regulated programmes across energy, electricity transmission and distribution, water and rail.

This is a specialist role for someone who really understands how infrastructure estimates are built. You’ll independently review and challenge estimates, interrogating rates, quantities, productivity, assumptions and risk to determine whether proposed costs are reasonable and appropriately supported.

You’ll combine detailed estimate review with benchmarking and cost validation, helping clients make confident investment decisions across complex infrastructure programmes.

We’re looking for someone who understands estimating, not just cost reporting.

Whether you’re taking apart a composite rate, questioning productivity assumptions or investigating why an estimate sits outside its benchmark range, you'll use your experience and judgement to understand why the numbers are different and whether those differences are justified.

Ultimately, you’ll help clients ensure that investment decisions are backed by credible, independently challenged cost evidence.

Role accountabilities:

• Reviewing and challenging contractor and designer estimates, including scope, quantities, rates, allowances and risk.
• Interrogating unit rates, labour, plant, materials, productivity, preliminaries and indirect costs.
• Benchmarking estimates against historical projects, cost databases and industry evidence.
• Normalising costs for differences in scope, location, design maturity, market conditions and construction methodology.
• Interpreting and reconciling different WBS/CBS structures and measurement conventions.
• Applying structured estimate review and validation approaches, including AACE 31R-03 and 110R-20.
• Preparing clear cost assurance reports and presenting findings to clients and senior stakeholders.

Qualifications & Experience:

• Strong experience in civil engineering estimating, cost planning or infrastructure cost analysis.
• Experience across major or regulated infrastructure, ideally energy, utilities, water or rail.
• A track record of reviewing and challenging estimates prepared by others.
• Strong knowledge of CESMM4, unit-rate build-ups and construction methodologies.
• Experience with cost benchmarking, WBS/CBS reconciliation and historical cost analysis.
• Good understanding of productivity, risk, contingency and the factors that drive infrastructure costs.
• Advanced Excel skills and confidence working with complex cost datasets.
• Strong technical judgement with the confidence to constructively challenge assumptions and explain your findings clearly.
• Experience of Ofgem-regulated networks, NEC contracts, regulatory cost assessment or AACE estimating practices would be particularly valuable.
• A relevant degree or equivalent industry experience is expected, with professional membership such as RICS, ICE, CIOB or ACostE

Why Arcadis?

We can only achieve our goals when everyone is empowered to be their best. We believe everyone's contribution matters. It’s why we are pioneering a skills-based approach, where you can harness your unique experience and expertise to carve your career path and maximize the impact we can make together.

You’ll do meaningful work, and no matter what role, you’ll be helping to deliver sustainable solutions for a more prosperous planet. Make your mark, on your career, your colleagues, your clients, your life and the world around you.

Together, we can create a lasting legacy.

Join Arcadis. Create a Legacy.

Our Commitment to Equality, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging

We want you to be able to bring your best self to work every day which is why we take equality and inclusion seriously and hold ourselves to account for our actions. Our ambition is to be an employer of choice and provide a great place to work for all our people. We believe that by working together diverse people with different experiences develop the most innovative ideas. Equality, diversity and inclusion is at the heart of how we improve quality of life and we work closely with our people across six ED&I Workstreams: Age, Disability, Faith, Gender, LGBT+ and Race. A diverse and skilled workforce is essential to our success.

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