Cem Budak is a director and leads Arup’s business in the Midlands.

He specialises in growing diverse businesses and teams, and delivering large-scale, complex infrastructure and cities projects. With more than 25 years’ experience, he has worked across Europe, Africa, Asia and the USA on projects spanning several industries, including rail, highways, renewable energy, cities and property.

In his role, he leads almost 1,000 engineers, planners and specialists across two offices in the Midlands, Birmingham and Nottingham. As a project director, he has worked with clients from bidding to conception, design and construction stages.

Before his current role, he was based in Istanbul, leading Arup’s rail business in Europe and leading Arup’s Infrastructure and Cities Group in Türkiye. He led teams not only to deliver defined projects but also to create projects that would help enable sustainable city growth.