Building Awards 2022: Construction/Consultant Surveyor of the Year (100 staff or over)

Runners-up

AA Projects

AA Projects has worked on many schemes over the past 12 months for a range of public and private sector clients across a variety of sectors. Two of the firm’s biggest projects include the Parliamentary Estate’s Palace of Westminster MEPFS programme and the University of Oxford’s carbon management plan. The firm has sought to support its staff with the cost-of-living crisis by bringing forward annual pay reviews by six months.

Aecom

Over the last year, Aecom’s buildings and places business has worked on more than 2,250 projects, over half of which used its project and cost experts. Among the firm’s innovations is its Market Measure Portal, a new digital tool designed to capture and share real-time market data which has helped keep Aecom’s teams informed of the newest market movements and identify inflationary pinch points.

Alinea Consulting

Over the past 12 months, Alinea Consulting has expanded the ownership of the business from six to 10 through the addition of four new members to the LLP as part of its succession planning, and has accelerated its remuneration cycle to help its team cope with the cost-of-living crisis. The consultant has also focused on expanding its operations into the life sciences sector, which has included working on the tallest and largest single life-science building in Europe, situated in London’s Canary Wharf area.

Baily Garner

Drawing on its experience of building and retrofitting housing to energy efficiency standards, in the autumn of 2021 Baily Garner compiled two practical toolkits for achieving net zero in new-build and existing homes. The firm is actively promoting the sector in schools and universities, attending nine careers fairs this year. It also runs highly commended selection processes for its year-out and graduate students.

CPC Project Services

In the last 12 months, CPC Project Services has continued to grow across all its sectors, services and locations, working on high-profile projects across the country in the infrastructure and real estate construction segments. This has included work for Landsec, the University of Oxford and Transport for London. The firm’s ability to attract new talent has seen it hire 60 new staff over the past year.

Fulkers Bailey Russell

In the past 12 months, the firm’s project highlights include London South Bank University’s London Road scheme and the Wild Place Project at Bristol Zoo. It also worked on the delivery of 30 new homes for LSHA and Apex Airspace using modular offsite-constructed systems to reduce disruption to insitu residents. Repeat business accounts for 80% of turnover, while staff numbers have increased 35%.

Hollis

Hollis’s project management service has had a particularly good year, generating a quarter of overall turnover and 87% of repeat business. The firm worked on schemes including office projects at Eagle Street in London and 1 Haymarket Square in Edinburgh. It grew its environmental, social and governance consulting team from two to 20 and hired a photovoltaics veteran for incorporation of renewables into clients’ assets.

Rider Levett Bucknall

RLB is on track to achieve the 10-year revenue targets outlined in its 2030 strategy, having seen a 30% uptick in the past year. This has been driven by the addition of 220 new colleagues, the opening of offices in Belfast and Cardiff, and the evolution of its London and Manchester offices to support hybrid working. Highlights include Everton Football Club’s new stadium and a green plan for University Hospitals of Leicester.

Soben

Soben’s significant growth over the last 12 months is thanks to a focused expansion in EMEA, North America, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific. The sectors fuelling this expansion are mission critical, renewable energy, commercial real estate, and transport and infrastructure. In the face of the skills shortage, the consultant also has developed initiatives to train existing teams and retain its staff.