Transport planning specialist Phil Jones Associates has acquired the majority shareholding in transport modelling firm Multimodal.

Established in 2012, Multimodal delivers all elements of microsimulation modelling.

Both consultancies are based in Birmingham and have worked together numerous times over the last three years, most recently on the Bournemouth Winter Gardens project which involved a reorganisation of transport flows.

Phil Jones, managing director of PJA, said: "We have been seeking to establish our own modelling arm for a while now to enhance our service to clients.

"Having worked with Multimodal across several projects, we are familiar with their set up and have first-hand experience of their superb skills in microsimulation.

"We are delighted that they will be joining the PJA fold as a subsidiary.”

Luke Best, founder of Multimodal, added: "With PJA as our parent company, we are now in a position to grow and expand far more quickly than we'd be able to do on our own.

"Their support and experience will be invaluable in developing Multimodal.

"It will be business as usual for all our existing clients and we will continue to pursue our own projects albeit with a far broader remit than we were able to offer before."

Before establishing Multimodal, Mr Best worked in transport modelling for a number of the large UK engineering firms including Aecom, Amey and WSP.

He established Multimodal in 2012 in order to develop a specialist service to test proposals as well as assist in the visualisation of a project with use of specialist 3D software packages.

Multimodal's team will move into new office accommodation alongside the PJA base in Longbridge later this year.