WYG completes acquisition of urban design consultancy for £3.75m

A subsidiary of WYG, the Leeds programme, project management and technical consultancy, has acquired a town planning and urban design consultancy for £3.7m.

WYG Environment Planning Transport Limited has now completed the purchase of Harrogate-based SCA Planning Limited which trades under the name of its subsidiary, Signet Planning Limited.

The acquisition is part of WYG’s gorwth strategy of achieving quality revenues both organically and through selective acquisitions. For the year ending 31 March 2015, Signet Planning reported turnover of £3.5m, profit before taxation of £700k, and net assets of £1.3m.

Established by Simon Chadwick, James Hobson and Ian Rowe in 2005, Signet Planning has since opened offices in Newcastle and London in 2007, in Nottingham in 2008 and in Manchester in 2015.

Signet Planning’s clients include Quintain, Peveril Securities, Arena Racing, Story Homes and JD Wetherspoon.

Of the total consideration for the acquisition, £3.5m will be payable in cash.

Simon Chadwick and three other principal directors have agreed to lock-in provisions for the next three years and have also entered into new employment agreements with WYG Environment Planning Transport Limited.

Paul Hamer, chief executive officer of WYG, commented: “We are delighted to be joined by Simon Chadwick, and his colleagues in Signet Planning. We are confident that they will be a significant enhancement to WYG’s planning and urban and landscape design capabilities.

“Following our recent acquisitions of Alliance Planning, FMW Consultancy and North Associates, we now have more than 140 planning specialists representing the third largest team in the UK. This leading market position leaves us well placed to take advantage of the strong demand we expect for these specialist skills within a buoyant UK market for property and infrastructure development.”

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