He served as chairman of the Travers Morgan Consulting Group and EC Harris and also as president of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1991–92.
Wilson also chaired the Construction Industry Council and the heritage trust which manages the Coultershaw Wharf and Beam Pump.
[3] Travers Morgan were bought by Huntingdon International in 1991 and by the Compagnie Générale des Eaux (now known as Vivendi) in 1995.
[10] Between 2008 and 2012 he project managed the installation of an Archimedes' screw water turbine at the site that looked to supply 65,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year to the National Grid and save 50 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
The project required a survey to ensure that sheet piling works would not affect a suspected unexploded bomb.