In combining the strengths of each company, NBC Environment and Blackdown Environmental are moving towards a full-service approach

Thursday, 09 February 2017

NBC Environment has completed a strategic merger with Blackdown Environmental to extend its portfolio of ecology services in the UK. Blackdown offers ecological consultancy and environmental contracting to clients including major construction firms and civil engineering contractors, local authorities, planners and housing associations, water companies and other utility firms.

The deal will strengthen NBC Environment’s consultancy and wildlife management capabilities for customers in the private and public sectors. As a NBC company, Blackdown will be able to build upon its expertise and offer a greater range of added-value retained client work to complement its project work, as well as expand into new regions.

John Dickson, managing director and founder of NBC Environment, says: “This is a key moment in the 24-year history of this company. The skills and experience Blackdown brings will enable us to significantly expand the range of wildlife services we can offer to existing clients, as well as targeting new business.

“NBC Environment has grown incrementally over the years and has been highly acquisitive as it has moved from a franchise model to bringing its network in-house. Blackdown Environmental has already established a fantastic reputation in the South-West and Wales and we’re also in the midst of a recruitment drive to increase our provision across multiple regions. However, in moving on the strategy from geographical expansion to integrating new services to cover all regions, this deal represents an accelerated growth strategy.”

Blackdown Environmental’s managing director, Stewart Priddle, will sit on the NBC Environment board as director of ecology and habitats. In this role, Stewart will be responsible for developing NBC Environment’s ecological consultancy and contracting proposition for the UK as a whole.

Stewart Priddle adds: “NBC Environment is a natural fit for our us, both in terms of the clients and the culture. Each of our business units are complementary so the integration process is straightforward. Where there is cross-over, my focus will be on taking the most successful elements of each to develop a best-of-breed offer.

“ In combining the strengths of each company, NBC Environment and Blackdown Environmental are moving towards a full-service approach to meet the wildlife management needs of clients. This presents a very convincing USP for a broader customer base and together we are in stronger position to maintain longer-term scalable growth.”

The business integration process is underway and NBC Environment and Blackdown Environmental have each introduced the new services to their portfolios.

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About NBC Environment

NBC Environment is an independent environmental consultancy which provides practical commercial advice and services to the public and business sectors. Blackdown Environmental, a wholly-owned NBC Environment company, offers ecological consultancy and environmental contracting to support the rural economy.

NBC Environment provides strategic environmental planning and sustainable ecology, bird and pest solutions to customers in sectors such as facilities management, health and safety, construction and property management. Services are designed to remove risks of nature adversely impacting commercial activities by delivering business protection for every type of commercial activity.

The business was founded in 1993 and has grown to cover the whole of the UK. The team includes a country-wide network of trained, specialist falconry staff. NBC Environment strives to ensure its customers can achieve their commercial goals safe in the knowledge that conflict with nature has been managed considerately.