White Young Green buys Trench Farrow for £4.5m

White Young Green today bought niche project management outfit Trench Farrow, continuing its acquisition policy in the QS and project management sectors. The firm bought Tweeds for £11m in March and Irish firm Nolan Ryan in June.

The deal will be divided betweeen £2.25m in cash and £2.25m in shares in White Young Green. Trench Farrow posted pre-tax profits of £926,654 on turnover of £3.3m for the year to 30 June 2006.

Trench Farrow was formed in 1978 by David Trench and currently employs 30 staff in Swindon and London. Focusing on the corporate fit-out and urban regeneration markets, the consultancy has built up an excellent reputation in project management, securing a number of high profile projects. Current projects include in the City of London the IPC Media Headquarters and the refurbishment of the Guildhall Estate for the Corporation of London. In the regeneration field projects include the 6,000-home Priory Vale urban expansion in Swindon and the 1,300-home regeneration of Ashford Barracks in Kent.

John Purvis, chief executive of White Young Green, said: “This acquisition marks another important step within our strategy to develop a comprehensive range of management services within WYG. Trench Farrow provides a new dimension to the WYG project management capability. It adds specialist expertise in the corporate fit out and urban regeneration markets which complements and consolidates our existing project management portfolio in the private and public sector development markets.”

Founder David Trench at Trench Farrow said: “We have been conscious for some time of the constraints imposed by our size and location on the ability to build on our excellent reputation in the niche markets we serve. We believe that joining White Young Green will enable us to develop our expertise into new service and geographical areas without sacrificing the personal and proactive services our clients have come to expect."