Edinburgh-based independent building and project consultancy Paragon has merged with Bond Davidson to create a £22m turnover business employing almost 200 people with additional offices in London, Manchester and Esher, Surrey.
The merged business, which has its Edinburgh office on George Street, is currently advising on projects with a total construction value of £5bn and is now one of the UK’s largest independent building and project consultants.
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The businesses will continue to operate as Paragon and Bond Davidson in the short term following the merger before aligning under the Paragon brand in November this year. This period allows the controlled, phased integration of the two companies’ people, processes and technologies, ensuring levels of service excellence are maintained throughout.
Paragon and Bond Davidson unanimously decided to operate under one brand to ensure clarity of communication as the merged business implements its strategic growth plans, which may include further mergers or acquisitions. The shareholders of both businesses will all be shareholders in the merged company and will remain working in it.
Some of the businesses’ principals, Paragon joint managing directors, John Munday and Robert Perry, and Bond Davidson managing directors, Malcolm Davidson and Matthew Dunn, have known each other for more than 20 years. They have worked together on a variety of projects, so understand and respect each other’s expertise and capabilities.
The principals believe the merged company’s combined offer will provide existing and potential clients with a much-wanted, larger scale viable alternative in the markets in which it operates.
Speaking on behalf of Paragon, John Munday said: “Paragon and Bond Davidson complement each other perfectly in terms of our respective project and building consultancy services and specialisms.
“We had a larger building surveying and due diligence offering whilst they had a larger project services offering. Together, we are significantly more skilled and able to advise a wider range of clients.
“Both businesses were independently considering acquisitions as part of their strategic growth plans, so the merger is perfectly timed.
“We are now one unified team. Both companies have been seeking new team members and by combining forces we partly achieve that objective, are stronger and can demonstrate greater experience. We also expect new job opportunities will be generated by the merger.”
Speaking on behalf of Bond Davidson, Matthew Dunn added: “The cultures of both businesses are very closely aligned and are inclusive and high performance. We celebrate individuality, charisma and ambition.
“We pride ourselves on having teams that think differently and act quickly. We will continue to embrace and foster this distinct culture to create further commercial advantages for clients and even greater career opportunities for our people.
“We are all about relationships, so the same people will be looking after the same clients throughout. The unified brand will not have any adverse impact on our service delivery, it will only improve it.”
