Cheshire sustainability business completes acquisition

Cheshire-based Element Sustainability has completed the acquisition of fellow BREEAM specialist Sustainability Assessments.

Both companies will continue operating under their own names for the foreseeable future, but ultimately are set to work under the Element brand.

Element Sustainability was launched in 2011 and has offices in London and the North West. Clients include Peel, Wates, Willmott Dixon, Morgan Sindall, Bruntwood, and JLL.

Sustainability Assessments Ltd was established in Manchester in 2015 by Ben Sidebottom, who no longer works for the business, with Paul Crookes and Dave Walker, founders of Crookes Walker Consulting, who also formerly held directorships.

The merged company employs six members of staff, including Oscar Holden who joined as part of the acquisition. The business will operate in Element’s offices in Tarvin, Cheshire, and out of an additional base in Manchester. Projects the company has worked on include Renaker’s Deansgate Square.

According to Element, the acquisition means the company is “now one of the largest BREEAM providers in the North West. The combined business will now offer our clients support throughout the construction cycle; from concept design to in use stages. Initial planning stage input is supported by a wide range of technical consultancy services including building energy modelling, overheating analysis and air permeability testing to ensure building regulation compliance.”

Founders and directors of Element, Laurie Wills and Caroline Wills, are to head the merged company.

Laurie Wills, director at Element Sustainability, said: “The sustainability agenda is coming to the fore with ever more demanding compliance requirements, driven by planning policy and regulatory updates as well as a wider market recognition of the benefits of sustainable, low emission, healthy buildings.”