Summers-Inman, the award-winning construction and property consultancy based at Newcastle Great Park, is celebrating a raft of new work on projects valued at more than £100m since the start of the year.
One of its most important wins near the end of last year was its place on the NEUPC (North East Universities Purchasing Consortium) framework for project management, quantity surveying and building surveying services. This recently translated into the award of project management and quantity surveying services on the new £20m Cornell Student Quarter project at Teesside University.
Additionally, the team is working on a £100m scheme for Edinburgh University, which is being delivered out of Newcastle; the provision of multi-disciplinary support on a programme of work as part of its appointment to Severn Trent Water’s £90m framework; for Yorkshire Housing, Summers-Inman is providing quantity surveying and employers agent services on a £7m new build residential scheme as well as site-based full time project management services for NHS Property Services at Shotley Bridge Hospital.
Employing 44 staff in Newcastle and 105 across its six offices nationally, Summers-Inman can demonstrate an enviable list of blue-chip clients including Aldi, Walkers, PepsiCo, Tesco, McDonalds and Phillips.
Reviewing the firm’s success and future plans, director Mark Dutton, says: “We took out a new lease on modern, open-plan office space in March last year at Newcastle Great Park and we have never looked back. We have also made a major investment in IT and communications with a cloud-based system to provide remote access facilities to all staff. The quality of the office environment has made a huge difference to the work environment for our staff and there is a very positive vibe in the office.
“Cost management and quantity surveying are still the largest part of the business accounting for fifty per cent of turnover in Newcastle and we have ambitious plans for expansion too, particularly the Leeds office, which will continue to increase during 2019, due to an ever-expanding workload.
“Added to that, we also have advanced plans to open new offices in Manchester and Birmingham later this year.
“Our Building Information Modelling (BIM) capabilities have introduced us to projects and teams that we may not have previously been involved with such as the £950m One Nine Elms project in London, a mixed-use sky scraper scheme, which we are thrilled to have been part of.
“I believe we are highly regarded for our ability to bring added value and innovation to projects. We
can work on major projects and have all the advantages of a large practice in matters such as facilities, experience, resources and capabilities, but fundamentally we are still an owner-managed SME and can provide a level of personal service and accountability, which cannot be matched by the large international companies, so we are looking forward confidently to the future.”
Summers-Inman operates nationally throughout the UK from offices in Edinburgh, Leeds, Leicester, London, and Stafford as well as Newcastle.