An M&E consultancy, which has more than 50 staff in offices in Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham, is moving to become an employee-owned trust (EOT).
Crookes Walker Consulting (CWC) was founded in 2004 by Dave Walker and Paul Crookes.
The majority shareholding will move to an employee-owned trust, which will manage CWC on behalf of its employees.
The company said the move to an EOT was seen as the best way to secure the future of the business and reward the staff for their hard work and dedication during the last 18 years.
The board of directors will remain unchanged with Chris Skinner as chief executive, Andy Ringland as chief technology officer, and Steve Plant as chief financial officer. The board will work with the Trust to bring continued growth and development plans and safeguard the ethos and core values that underpin the business, it said in a statement.
Chris Skinner said: “It is a privilege to have the opportunity to lead this great business through its next stage of evolution and the EOT structure will perfectly reflect and secure the principles upon which the company is founded.”
Explaining how they came to this decision, founders Paul Crookes and Dave Walker, said: “CWC is a knowledge based business, with a reputation for team working and excellence. We are only as good as the people within the practice and we wanted to ensure that with any succession plan, their future was not just secured but enhanced. EOT is the ideal way to achieve both goals whilst helping to attract and retain the best talent in the industry.
“As a forward facing business CWC needs to ensure it has the ability to be agile and open to change. EOT provides the opportunity for the next generation of engineering expertise and business ideas to flourish in an environment where openness and creativity benefits everyone.”
The firm added it will be consulting with its employees during the next few months to “ensure a smooth transition”, and said it was “very excited” to move together into a new era for Crookes Walker Consulting.
Details of the advisers who worked on the deal were not disclosed.
