Surveying practice Shepherd Chartered Surveyors has today announced its merger with multi discipline property and construction consultants, Hardies.

The two firms said the newly formed practice will be unrivalled in its delivery network of surveying and construction services throughout the country.

Established in 1880 and 1913 respectively, both practices share a long history with each having developed complementary but different disciplines around property advice.

Under the agreed terms of the merger, the two businesses will work side by side, complementing each other in order to achieve the best outcome for the extensive client bases vested in both businesses. Hardies will specialise in all areas around construction services with Shepherd specialising in its traditional areas of valuation , property management and agency.

While each business will maintain its own identity, with Hardies being the construction arm of the business and Shepherd being its go-to valuation arm, the newly merged practice has a combined turnover of £25 million and employs some 350 staff.

The combined business will be led by Shepherd’s senior partner George Brewster and Derek Ferrier, managing partner of Hardies.

Derek Ferrier said: “This merger between Hardies and Shepherds establishes us as the country’s leading powerhouse in property and construction consultancy services with the largest number of building surveyors, valuation surveyors and related construction consultancy professional services in Scotland.

“Hardies multi-disciplined construction team currently delivers some of the largest and most prestigious projects in the country and this merger will provide Hardies with increased local resources to further increase our national coverage which will instantly develop our long-term goals.

“Our new merged practice will benefit from shared overheads which should reduce the operating costs and substantially increase the long-term future of both practices.”

George Brewster of Shepherd added: “We are delighted to announce this merger and look forward to working with Hardies as one unified firm which offers new and existing clients a fully comprehensive service. Like ourselves, Hardies has a long and proud history and excellent reputation for the services it provides. Mainly known for its work in construction services, project management, quantity surveying, building surveying and valuation but now with new services such as Dispute Resolution and an unrivalled working knowledge of Building Information Modelling (BIM), Hardies provides an excellent strategic fit with Shepherd.

“Our long-term business plan goal at Shepherd has been to provide a fully integrated range of services throughout Scotland, including developing construction services. We believe that we now have the right fit in Hardies LLP where the partners and staff have similar cultural values and work ethic in looking after client’s interests.”

Hardies currently has 14 offices throughout Scotland whilst Shepherd has 33.