Scottish building surveyors target UK market after fire engineering consultancy acquisition
Chartered building surveying firm Diamond & Company (Scotland) Limited has acquired fire engineering consultancy S. Brooker & Associates as part of its strategic growth plan.
The new business will be known as Brooker Diamond Fire Engineering and will be based alongside the successful chartered building surveying practice in Cumbernauld.
Diamond & Company (Scotland) is a specialist firm of chartered surveyors providing full building consultancy services across various sectors throughout the built environment.
Having started as a niche building surveying and energy consultancy practice, Diamond & Company grew into an established general building surveying consultancy and now specialises in EWS1 surveys and certification (options A & B), external cladding, building surveys, energy consultancy and retrofit coordination in accordance with PAS 2035, and statutory compliance.
With offices in Glasgow and Edinburgh as well as Cumbernauld, its full end-to-end retrofit service covers Path A, B & C projects in conventional, high-rise and traditional buildings.
The acquisition of the Linlithgow-based fire engineering consultancy strengthens its chartered fire engineering capability, while also supplementing its resource in the cladding and fire remediation sector.
Along with shareholder director Craig Alexander Rattray, managing director Philip Diamond founded the business in December 2019 after more than 20 years as a sole trader.
The move is part of the firm’s growth plan as it targets expansion into the wider UK market, with a London office providing both services due to open at the end of February.
“I’m delighted to conclude this strategic acquisition at what is a very important time for the industry,” said Mr Diamond. “The ability to combine building surveying skills with those of the chartered fire engineering discipline is huge in the current market.
“I’m also pleased that we have an extension to our bespoke professional indemnity policy covering both the chartered fire engineering and chartered building surveying sides of the business.
“This adds an additional dimension to our services and heralds the beginning of an exciting phase of growth with a number of major projects already in the pipeline.
“We are one of the leading chartered building surveyors in Scotland. This will not only strengthen that position but will provide an ideal platform as we look to move into the marketplace in England and elsewhere in the UK with our range of professional services.”
Mr Rattray, a Glasgow-based growth strategist, is also Diamond & Company’s finance director and negotiated and structured the transaction on behalf of the company.
Steve Brooker, who established S. Brooker and Associates more than 30 years ago, has been a Chartered Fire Engineer for almost 20 years and takes up the position of director of fire engineering in the new business.
He said: “This was a great opportunity for us to merge with an experienced firm of building professionals to provide a turnkey solution for surveying and fire engineering.”