Paragon strikes major merger

Paragon, the Edinburgh-based building and project consultancy, has merged with Bond Davidson to create a £22 million turnover business employing almost 200 people '“ with further mergers not ruled out.

Bond Davidson is based in Esher, Surrey and the new entity, which will also have offices in London and Manchester, will eventually operate under the Paragon brand.

The merged business, whose Edinburgh office is on George Street, is currently advising on projects with a total construction value of £5 billion, and will be one of the UK’s largest independent building and project consultants.

In addition, the new company said it believed that its combined project monitoring offer will be the biggest of its kind in the UK, with 50 people advising on projects with a construction value of £3bn.

The companies said yesterday: “Paragon and Bond Davidson unanimously decided to operate under one brand to ensure clarity of communication as the merged business implements its strategic growth plans, which may include further mergers or acquisitions.

“Some of the businesses’ principals, Paragon joint managing directors, John Munday and Robert Perry, and Bond Davidson managing directors, Malcolm Davidson and Matthew Dunn, have known each other for more than 20 years. They have worked together on a variety of projects, so understand and respect each other’s expertise and capabilities.”

Munday said: “Paragon and Bond Davidson complement each other perfectly in our respective project and building consultancy services and specialisms.

“We had a larger building surveying and due diligence offering whilst they had a larger project services offering. Both businesses were independently considering acquisitions as part of strategic growth plans, so the merger is perfectly timed.”