Rise in road and rail spend leads BCS to grow

The Leeds-based firm said revenue rose to £6.4m in the year to 31 August 2014, up from £3.9m the previous year.

The group’s profitability more than doubled, which it said provided a platform for diversification and further expansion in 2015.

The firm, which was established by managing director Steve Osbaldeston in 2003, has grown from his spare room into an national civil and structural engineering consultancy employing 38 engineers and office staff in Leeds and London.

The business saw growth in demand from clients across the UK including major contractors Balfour Beatty, Carillion and Laing O’Rourke.

Mr Osbaldeston said: “Our reputation for specialist design is now well-established in the UK and we are enjoying increased demand as infrastructure projects see greater investment. Our step up in scale over the past few years has also opened up some new opportunities,”

In the past decade BCS Design has worked on the Thames Link and Cross Rail programmes including re-signalling, level crossing, power supply and station renewals.

The start of Network Rail’s £38bn rail investment programme in April this year and the planning and design of HS2 are expected to provide further opportunities for the company.

“With the April 2014 start of the £38bn ‘control period 5’ rail investment programme by Network Rail, we are at the start of a five-year spending programme on the busiest parts of the UK rail network. This is the largest upgrade of the railways since the Victorian era,” said Mr Osbaldeston.

“Add the huge opportunities offered for the planning and design of HS2, and we are in a very good place, as one of only a handful of specialists in our sector able to service these really transformational projects.”

The firm has also completed design work for rail, highway, and bridge replacement works, as well as temporary works, where major infrastructure projects have a long term impact.

Co-director Martin Cure said: “The opportunity to use our expansion and new scale to move upstream into complementary markets is something our clients are encouraging us to look at, and it is really exciting to have a whole new chapter of future growth ahead of us.”

Recent projects include the design of rail improvements and platform extensions for a £6bn investment programme in the Thameslink network across the South East; the on-going design and maintenance of the M40 in partnership with UK Highways and surveys, and ground investigation and design for 120 miles of railway for the Western Zone signalling upgrade.

Mr Cure added: “Expanding our offering to broaden our services has been the focus of our five-year forward plan and we expect to launch new multi-disciplinary divisions over the coming 24 months.”