Curtins now owned by staff

The Liverpool-based company officially became an employee-owned trust on 14 July, meaning staff will have more influence on business decisions and be able to share in its financial success.

Board members and other staff shareholders transferred their shares to the designated trust to seal the deal.

As part of the built environment consultancy’s new structure, there will be an employee forum made up of 28 representatives from the company’s 14 UK offices. From that forum, two members will sit on a trustee board. The board of directors will be accountable to that trustee board.

However, the board of directors will still be the ones responsible for running the business.

More than 350 people work for Curtins in the UK and Ireland.

Chief executive Rob Melling said he hopes that having a stake in the company will further motivate employees.

“Whilse our staff have always been focussed on delivering what our clients need from us, we believe that being part of the employee-owned trust will give our staff an even greater desire to achieve our company objectives, and serving clients is at the very heart of that,” he said.

Curtins previously had a version of employee ownership that was introduced in 2002. Unlike this new model, however, staff only collectively owned a quarter of the business.

Melling said that now is the right time to make the transition to full employee ownership.

“We genuinely believe that this is best for the business and our people,” he said. “For those that don’t get it, my response is just wait and see.”

Curtins’ list of specialisms includes civil and structural engineering, transport planning, conservation and heritage, environmental, infrastructure, geotechnical and principal design. Recent projects in the North West include Manchester Gasworks, the Port of Liverpool revamp and a 140-home scheme in Wyre.