SME Consulting Firm of the Year

Agilia Infrastructure Partners

Agilia Infrastructure Partners has demonstrated exceptional growth and innovation, making it the standout choice for SME Consulting Firm of the Year. Our transition to an Employee-Owned Trust in 2023, with profit-sharing beginning December 2023, has transformed our workplace while driving remarkable financial results. We've achieved substantial revenue growth year-on-year, with strong profit margins maintained throughout our expansion. Beyond financial performance, the EOT has created a genuine ownership culture where employees approach work with an even greater sense of motivation. This alignment between personal and company success has enhanced collaboration and workplace satisfaction as demonstrated in recent employee surveys. Our motto, "delivering infrastructure together", is now perfectly reflected in our ownership structure, creating a truly employee-centric organisation that delivers exceptional outcomes for major UK infrastructure projects.

Allora Infrastructure

At Allora, we believe infrastructure can deliver better outcomes for people and places. We partner with progressive organisations to deliver better outcomes across three core services: Infrastructure Strategy, New Delivery Models, and Delivery Model Performance. We understand that operating within the infrastructure sector means we have a significant impact, and we embrace our responsibility to drive positive change through our operating model, measuring our impact as an organisation against the SDGs. Our pursuit principles ensure we work on programmes that contribute positively to the SDGs, with clients who share our commitment to improving infrastructure delivery. This creates an environment where we can deliver high-quality services. We have supported capital delivery programmes across the UK water, energy, and transport sectors, influencing >£29bil of capital expenditure. We believe that delivering a positive impact and driving business performance are not mutually exclusive; they go hand in hand.

Beam Consulting Engineers

Following completion of the government-backed Help to Grow program in July 2023, Beam Consulting Engineers Ltd implemented a three-year business strategy to drive significant growth. As a result, revenue increased by 44.7% in 2023/24, a fourfold improvement over the previous year’s 11% growth.Internally, the company restructured its teams, improved management accountability, and fostered a collaborative, innovative culture. New staff benefits and professional development initiatives further enhanced employee engagement.Externally, Beam shifted its focus to high-value sectors, such as Water and Power & Utilities, moving away from less profitable residential and retail projects. This allowed the company to secure larger contracts and expand its service offerings, including project management and improved drainage design.Looking ahead, Beam is targeting further growth through customer segmentation, enhanced marketing, and operational efficiency. With a goal of increasing revenue by another 40% in 2025/26, the company is solidifying its reputation as a pioneering SME consultant.

engineeria

In bad times, you sometimes need to take drastic actions to reset and create growth within your organisation. Engineeria a structural and civil engineering practice is no different, it has been created in 2014 by three ambitious Design Engineers to deliver creative, innovative and cost-effective engineering solutions that meet and surpass our client’s expectations. Engineeria was primarily known as a firm focusing on international project, delivery high end resorts. Engineeria, pre-covid, had 80% international projects and 20% UK based projects. We decided to target ourselves to have 20% international projects and 80 UK based projects.We grew our staff by 25% and … during Covid … we took the drastic step to start.This allowed for staff promotions, more opportunities for training at all levels.Within 10 months our UK invoicing grew by 50%.

Environmental Protection Group

Established in 1998, the Environmental Protection Group (EPG) delivers robust, sustainable, and cost-effective design solutions across structural waterproofing, contaminated land management, and sustainable water drainage and flood risk. Central to our approach is a thorough understanding of client objectives and project-specific constraints, enabling us to identify and mitigate risks early in the design process. We integrate traditional engineering principles with innovative ideas—evolved from active research and development—ensuring our services are both regulatory compliant and forward-thinking. Our multi-disciplinary team provides comprehensive support from the initial consultation through to final delivery, consistently upholding transparent and high-quality standards.

Jensen Hunt Design

Over the past 18 months, we have completely transformed our business, making sustainability the driving force behind everything we do. Our passion for environmental responsibility has not only shaped our approach but has also fueled significant growth in revenue, industry influence, and project scale. To formalise our commitment, we developed our Environmental Manifesto, which now guides our decisions, from the projects we take on to the materials we prioritise and the partners we collaborate with.By focusing on sustainable construction, we’ve expanded our client base, increased our revenue, and grown our team with experts in sustainable design. Our projects, like Life Building, challenge traditional construction methods, while initiatives like ViridiPath harness technology to drive industry-wide change. By reducing reliance on high-carbon materials and fostering strong collaborations, we’re helping reshape the future of construction.

Knight Architects

Knight Architects is one of the world's leading architectural practices specialising exclusively in bridge design. The award-winning studio of 26 exports its services to more than a dozen different countries for projects of all scales. Its innovative position and unique perspective as a trusted collaborator and "architect in the world of engineering" is welcomed by clients for the value-added from concept through design and procurement to completion and post-use. The studio's refocused international outlook and strategic sales cycle development has been borne out through strong financial growth and high staff retention.

Link Engineering

Link Engineering is a multi-disciplinary engineering consultant operating with a clear growth mindset at all levels. Its commitment to employee wellbeing, professional development, and business performance transparency within its team sets a new standard for the engineering industry. Investment in new office premises and monthly team socials facilitates a positive and attractive working environment. Excellent client satisfaction and repeat business is achieved by the commitment to quality and consistency of everyone in the Link Engineering team. Link has a proven track record of successfully delivering a wide range of projects, from small residential schemes to large-scale infrastructure and logistics projects. Link Engineering’s focus on continuous improvement has resulted in significant financial and team growth, with further expansion planned over the next five years, making them a true leader and a worthy recipient of the SME Consulting Firm of the Year award.

Mine Environment Management

Mine Environment Management is a specialised UK geoscience and engineering consultancy, working across the global mining sector.Started in 2018 with two employees and a handful of clients, turnover has increased year on year. MEM has delivered growth by doubling the workforce from seven (2023) to thirteen (2024), invested in a new R&D office, continued to grow client base, and increased revenue while investing heavily in R&D. MEM has invested into green technology research by collaborating with UK/European partners as part of the C-SINK consortium (carbon capture technology), demonstrating the efficacy of enhanced rock weathering to capture carbon dioxide. MEM is continuing a joint venture (CET Ltd) to develop sustainable water treatment technology, and developed a fully integrated laboratory-consulting service by collaborating with partner Geochemic Ltd. In late 2024 MEM began a collaboration with an Imperial College spin-off company focusing on plant-endophyte systems for hyperaccumulating metals from mine waste.

SRC Infrastructure

SRC Infrastructure has achieved significant growth by transitioning from a Tier 1 supplier supporting major organisations to directly partnering with national clients. This evolution is marked by securing prestigious multi-disciplinary framework contracts, which highlight SRC's expanding influence across various sectors beyond rail, including aviation and local authorities.Offering a fully integrated suite of services—from design and engineering management to project management, PMO, and planning—SRC delivers comprehensive project solutions that streamline operations and maximise value for clients.Collaborative success is a cornerstone of SRC’s operations, as showcased in our Engineering Delivery Partner (EDP) contract with TfL, which earned industry recognition for its unified, transparent approach. Long-standing partnerships with clients and a trusted network of partners continue to drive SRC's success, fostering opportunities for new, high-value contracts and solidifying our reputation as a leader in delivering exceptional, multi-disciplinary services.

Sutcliffe

Sutcliffe has completed over 34,000 projects since inception in 1985 and now delivers on £1bn in construction contracts annually. In the past 18 months, Sutcliffe has expanded its healthcare, housing, and education portfolios, securing 10+ multiyear national frameworks, including ForHousing, Pagabo, Universities and the £1bn Innovation Chain Framework. The firm reported record-breaking financials, with a £6.2m turnover, strong profits and an average 16.3% growth over five years. Profit margins rose steadily, with 20% distributed to staff and 50% reinvested, reinforcing its commitment to sustainable growth and community impact. In recent years we have committed 10% of profitable time to good causes with inclusive growth spreading benefits across the company and the region. We have 25% of the company on professional training programmes, 29% on future leader training programmes 34% who are official mentors/training providers within the company. We believe in ‘passing on the knowledge’.