Construction and property consultancy grows regional footprint

The Leeds office of Summers-Inman, a construction and property consultancy with a national network of offices, is expanding its footprint at Thorpe Park Leeds.

Although established for more than 35 years in Leeds city centre, the firm moved to Thorpe Park in 2006.

Now, due to winning new projects and recruiting additional staff, it has taken a five-year lease on 1,550 sq ft of space a short distance from where its office was previously. This will enable future expansion plans in the region.

Two new additions have also been made to the team, bringing the consultancy’s current total of staff in Leeds to 12.

Ryan Kirk joins as a senior building surveyor. He has 15 years of experience gained at a national consultancy and has been working on Summers-Inman’s national client accounts providing due diligence, dilapidation reports and professional and project building surveying services.

The second new appointment is James Lee, a quantity surveyor, with six years of experience.

He will be working with director of the Leeds office, David Blakey, in providing cost management and employer’s Agent services to many of the firm’s clients in various sectors.

Summers-Inman has secured appointments to several frameworks and multi-million pound schemes in the Yorkshire area and nationally, including large schemes for Yorkshire Housing and The Riverside Housing Group.  

For Yorkshire Housing, it is undertaking Employer’s Agent and Cost Management roles on a £30m affordable housing scheme in Beverley.

At Westwood Village in Kent, the consultancy is providing Employer’s Agent and Cost Management services via the Efficiency North Framework for 449 affordable residential units, working on behalf of the Riverside Housing Group.

It is also working in partnership with York-based developer Grantside to develop carbon net zero schemes in Sheffield.  The first, 190 Norfolk Street, provides office space in the city centre.

The second, Hive-Central in Kelham Island, provides 100 co-living studios spread over five floors.

Within the utilities sector, Summers-Inman has gained a re-appointment under the Helpdesk and Professional Services Framework for Severn Trent Water, marking continuation of a 13-year relationship.

Blakey said: “It has always been our intention to expand in the Yorkshire area – our Leeds office falls within the northern region of our business, which also includes Newcastle, Teesside and Manchester – and we are finding the wider Yorkshire, Humberside and Teesside markets are very receptive to our way of doing things.

“If you also factor in the enviable position Leeds enjoys as a strong financial centre and the inward investment proposition of this area as a whole, there have been many opportunities for us to win new work.

“In the short to medium-term, we will be strengthening our position with our current workload while we aim to attract further team members.  

“We are at an exciting stage in the development of the Leeds office and we are all very optimistic about its future success.”