Midlands-based property consultancy Harris Lamb is expanding with the acquisition of established Worcester-based planning specialists Malcolm Scott Consultants.
The business, which services clients across the UK from three offices in Birmingham, Worcester and Stoke on Trent, has bought the planning consultancy, but said it would continue to operate under its own name due to its history and reputation within the horticultural sector.
Neil Harris, Director of Harris Lamb, said: “Malcolm Scott Consultants has been established for more than 30 years and is a well known name thanks to its nationwide and international projects.
“We recognised a synergy between both businesses and have been working together to bring MSC under the Harris Lamb umbrella in order to strengthen our service offering.
Harris Lamb, formed in 1992, has organically grown to a business employing more than 50 people across its three sites, and has added new services to meet client demand, with the launch of its retail division in 2014 and its residential division earlier this year.
This acquisition follows its announcement at the beginning of 2016 that further to recording its most successful year on record, the business planned to expand and increase its workforce by at least 15 per cent.
Neil added: “The business is particularly well respected for its work within the horticultural sector, offering extensive experience of consulting on the design and development of garden centres throughout the world and preparing feasibility studies for new build or extensions to existing sites.
“We feel that this experience and expertise will be a huge asset to our own services, and allows us to extend our own planning department’s offering.
“The business currently employs six people, all of whom will relocate to Harris Lamb’s Worcester office within the next month.
“We’re looking forward to moving forward with this additional expertise and the additional clientele we can assist with the new resource,” added Neil.
Malcolm Scott, who will continue to work with the business on a consultancy level, said: “Joining Harris Lamb will enable us to continue to offer our unique individual advice and planning professionalism to clients but add further expertise and services courtesy of the extensive service offering that the business provides.
“Having recently acted on behalf of Orchard Street Investment Management and St. James Place Wells Management to oversee the sale and lease of nine garden centres for £91 million, and with a track record of achieving planning permission for a number of large-scale extensions to client sites to accommodate restaurants, car parks and retail space, there is huge scope for providing further services to our clients.
The new team is even stronger with experience in depth of retail, commercial and property advice. We will continue to serve large and small clients to the very best of our ability, and I look forward to the future with great enthusiasm,” he added.
