Leading Adviser Awards 2020

Acquisition International - Leading Adviser 2020 101 Acquisition I ternational - Issue 11 2020 23 ith a head office in West Sussex and two further satellite offices in Birmingham and Bristol, Geo-Environmental Services Limited delivers a range of Ground Investigation, Geotechnical Consultancy and Environmental Consultancy services across the UK. Its varied client base includes private individuals, housing developers, commercial property developers, schools, hospitals and other public sector organisations, utilities, renewable energy suppliers, rail, airport and highways projects, and projects can range in size from £950 for a phase 1 environmental desk study to £500,000 for ground investigations on major civil engineering projects. The company was established in 1996 with the aim of simply being a provider of quality ground investigation services. Since then, however, the firm has grown and evolved substantially, as Mike explains further. “Quality is still key to everything else we do, but our aims now reflect our responsibilities to our staff, suppliers, developing the industry, the environment and the communities we work and live in. “These are now to meet our client’s needs by delivering high quality professional advice and services in a timely way; to meet the needs of our workforce by creating an environment where there are sufficient profits to support the needs of our staff, where they feel valued, can meet their career aspirations and work safely; to meet the needs of our key suppliers by creating opportunities for them to grow, work safely and be a catalyst for the improvement of their businesses; to meet our obligations to our industry by participating in the development and propagation of best practice and mentoring of the next generation(s) of engineers; and to meet our obligations to society by working in sustainable way and supporting the communities that we work and live in.” Mike continues to build on what it is exactly that sets Geo- Environmental aside and differentiates it from other competitors in the field. “When you deliver consultancy services and you have an aim to deliver quality services, your staff are always the most important asset you have,” he says. “We have an exceptional team of engineers working for us at this moment and that is a real differentiator for us. In addition to this and fortunately before the current pandemic, we made big investment in IT to streamline processes and improve productivity. All these changes were made partly to allow us to turn reports around more quickly and expand the technical services we were offering, but also to make it easier for our staff to work remotely. The latter point was aimed at improving work life balance for staff, but as it turned out was exceptionally useful in keeping us open during lockdown. “In June we obtained ISO14064, to help us with the planning and measures required to reduce our carbon emissions. We are all going to have to make substantial changes to meet the Net Zero 2050 W Geo-Environmental Service Limited is just another success story to come out of the global pandemic. Despite the ongoing Covid-19 battle, Mike Brown has experienced growth for the firm which is poised to continue into 2021 and beyond. Renewed Vigour Sep20614 targets and as well as setting targets and objectives to reduce our target, we have also set targets and objectives to provide advice to our clients that would help them reduce their emissions.” Covid-19 has changed the way companies are operating, and Geo- Environmental is not alone in its approach to having to utilise online platforms in order to continue to serve clients. “Wherever we can we aim to form strong working partnerships and relationships with our clients. If we know our clients better, we can deliver them a better service. The current pandemic is making it difficult to get out and see clients, so we are having to get much better at using social media. “We are still recruiting staff however, and we have found that even during the lockdown and the ongoing pandemic there are parts of our business that have continued to expand. We had bigger expansion plans nine months ago, but like every other Company in the world we have had to rein back our plans. Nevertheless, our view is that this will not last for ever and at that point we can get on with expanding the business.” With regards to the future, Mike understands that the current unprecedented challenges, such as Brexit and the pandemic, will affect business moving forward. However there is light at the end of the tunnel! “Once we had got the shock of April out of the way the industry bounced back strongly. We still do not build enough homes in the UK and this will remain a key source of revenue, Net Zero 2050 will be a driver for new infrastructure and climate change is likely to make floods and bank/cutting instability more likely. Geo-Environmental has a part to play in helping our clients deal with all of these challenges and once the pandemic has ended and Brexit has some sort of conclusion, we hope that we will see the industry start to tackle the housing crisis and climate change with renewed vigour.” Contact: Mike Brown Company: Geo-Environmental Services Limited Web Address: www.gesl.net Leading Geotechnical and Environmental Consultancy of the Year, United Kingdom