A COVENTRY biodiversity consultancy is winning new contracts and creating jobs after improving the skills base of its workforce and diversifying into new markets.
Middlemarch Environmental, which provides creative ecological solutions for private and public sector developers, has built up an enviable list of public sector and blue chip clients, including Advantage West Midlands, Birse, Carillion, Heathrow and Severn Trent Water.
Backed by Business Link West Midlands’ Leadership and Management (L&M) Programme, the wholly-owned subsidiary of the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust has successfully introduced a new management structure, made a host of efficiency improvements and reduced costs by 10%.
It comes on the back of a solid year for consultancy, which has seen it maintain turnover above the £3m level as it switched its attention to working on major public sector infrastructure projects, including the crucial M1 Junction 19 upgrade.
Philip Fermor, managing director since 1999, said: “The services we offer are diverse and range from ecological field survey and assessment through to planning and design to implementation and site management.
“Our team of technical experts has more than 300 years’ experience behind them of ensuring private and public sector developers meet their biodiversity policy and that no habitats or wildlife are displaced or destroyed as a result of new construction work.”
Its ongoing success has seen profits of £1.5m directed to the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust since 1994 and workforce levels rise to 34.
Business Link West Midlands worked with the company over the course of eight months and helped to steer it in a new direction, supported by improved commercial skills.
Jane Rogers, BLWM’s L&M adviser, said: “Middlemarch Environmental is a specialist in what they do and are hugely successful at winning and completing new work.
“They had reached the stage of their growth when they needed to look at ways of strengthening the management team and giving more ownership of decisions to key personnel.
“We identified the right support and have worked with them to upskill their staff, whilst also looking at putting some succession planning in place. The end result has been a highly efficient company and one that is keen to continue to expand at pace.”
In addition to its core activities, Middlemarch Environmental is developing more creative ecological solutions and is currently in talks with three large habitat schemes in York and Kent.
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