Small beasts: A dying breed?

That's the take on the latest round of acquisitions to hit the sector of Peter Vince, whose firm AYH succumbed to a bigger beasts when it was bought by engineering giant Arcadis for £24m last year (see across). The logic appears unassailable - clients want firms with a longer reach, more services and a bigger balance sheet to boot. Hence a marked consolidation gaining pace amongst QS and project management firms, which must be a major concern for any medium-sized firm assessing its future strategy.

This trend does not rule out the nimble and strong niche service provider or regional force. But is something lost from a move to a more risk averse and systems-based environment? Three former staffers at big players who have since gone to smaller outfits certainly think so. "There are no entrepreneurs anymore in the industry," bemoans one, now out of the big firm straightjacket, as he sees it. Another hopes the entrepreneurial spirit that has driven businesses such as AYH, Precept and Tweeds to significant success can survive their sales.

Measuring up

This perceived risk-averse attitude amongst bigger firms appears to be filtering through to the market generally, with clients preferring two-stage bidding for building contracts. Such a trend, pointed to by EC Harris (see page 6) and is due to the increasing complexity of projects such as inner city mixed-use scheme, but threatens to transfer the core skill of the QS, that of measurement, to the contractor. Measurement is a skill highlighted by our columnist Steve Barker as absolutely vital for the profession, despite many reports of its death in recent history. It's a cause for concern for the industry, not least for the client since the transfer to contractors raises questions about just how much value for money they are getting.