Acquisition

Scott Wilson Group plc
17 October 2006

For immediate release                                            17 October 2006

                             Scott Wilson Group plc

                         Acquisition - 17 October 2006

Scott Wilson Group plc ("Scott Wilson"), the international consultancy offering
integrated professional services in the transportation, property, environmental
and natural resources sectors, today announces that it has reached a conditional
agreement to acquire the business and assets of Ferguson McIlveen LLP for a
consideration of £10.1m. The acquisition is expected to be completed on 1
November 2006.

Ferguson McIlveen LLP is a leading consultancy in Northern Ireland, which is
headquartered in Belfast, with offices in the Republic of Ireland, Glasgow,
Chester, Guildford, Leeds, Middlesborough, and Swansea, employing 250 people. It
provides design consultancy services for the property, environment and
infrastructure sectors and its specialist disciplines include Architecture,
Water Engineering and Urban Design. Recent notable projects include Lagan Weir,
the redevelopment of Belfast Cancer Centre, upgrade of Northern Ireland's North
Coast Wastewater Scheme, and Dublin's Beacon South Quarter development.

The initial consideration payable on completion is £3m in cash and £1.85m in
Scott Wilson Group plc ordinary shares. In addition, there is deferred
consideration of £5.25m in total of which £4.07m is payable in cash and £1.18m
by the issue of Scott Wilson Group plc shares. In addition, Scott Wilson has
agreed to become the principal employer of the final salary pension scheme of
Ferguson McIlveen LLP, which in October 2006 had an estimated net deficit of
£1.8m, as calculated by Scott Wilson's actuaries.

Ferguson McIlveen LLP 's revenue for the year-ended 31st March 2006 was £14.5m,
operating profit was £2.8m before Partners remuneration and net assets,
excluding pension deficit, at the year-end were £1.3m. In its current financial
year to date, Ferguson McIlveen LLP has continued to make good progress.

The acquisition of Ferguson McIlveen LLP represents an important step in Scott
Wilson strategy to pursue selective acquisitions, which present opportunities
for growth in our core sectors or target geographical markets, with Ireland
having been a key target market identified at the time of Scott Wilson's
flotation.

Geoff French, Chairman of Scott Wilson commented:

"I am delighted that we have acquired Ferguson McIlveen LLP, which will
significantly strengthen our presence in North and South Ireland and will enable
us to take full advantage of the growing markets there, particularly in the
environment and property sectors.

"Ferguson McIlveen LLP is already a substantial and successful business and,
having worked together for a number of years, we expect it to benefit further
from being part of the Scott Wilson Group."

                                      Ends 



For further information please contact:

Scott Wilson Group plc                            www.scottwilson.com
Geoff French, Chairman                            01256 310200
Stephen Kimmett, Finance Director
Smithfield                                        020 7360 4900
Katie Hunt

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Notes to Editors:

Scott Wilson is a leading international consultancy offering integrated services
for civil and structural engineering projects, transportation, environmental
studies and institutional development. It was ranked as the ninth largest
UK-owned engineering consultant by fee income for the calendar year 2005 in the
New Civil Engineer 2006 annual Survey.

The Group earned approximately 67 per cent of its revenue over the three years
to 30 April 2006 in the UK and approximately 33 per cent overseas. The Group has
an existing network of international offices controlled through six regional
centres in Warsaw, Johannesburg, Dubai, Delhi, Bangkok and Shanghai/Hong Kong.

Scott Wilson has strong relationships with national governments,
non-governmental agencies, multinational companies and supranational funding
bodies. In the financial year ended 30 April 2006, 30 of the Company's clients
were billed over £1 million and the top 50 of the Group's clients accounted for
aggregate fees of some £100 million.

Important clients and partners include Network Rail, the Highways Agency,
Balfour Beatty, Alfred McAlpine, Cross London Rail Links, English Partnerships,
Defence Estates, tie (transport initiatives Edinburgh), Southern Water, English
Partnerships, Costain, London Underground and the Roads Service Northern
Ireland.

Notable projects on which Scott Wilson has worked in the last year include
London Crossrail, Bangkok Airport, Manchester Airport, Spinnaker Tower, the UK
West Coast Rail Route Modernisation, AsiaWorld Expo, Victoria Station and
Edinburgh Tram.

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