SUFFOLK-based Utility Cost Management Ltd has been acquired by UK-wide DBK Back, in a move which the new owners claim will see the construction, property and development consultancy become the first company to provide utility management advice on a national scale.

SUFFOLK-based Utility Cost Management Ltd has been acquired by UK-wide DBK Back, in a move which the new owners claim will see the construction, property and development consultancy become the first company to provide utility management advice on a national scale.

DBK Back plans to grow the specialist utility management team, which currently has £250,000 of secured contracts, into a network of eight specialist utility consultants, so that each of its four UK offices can deliver the niche service.

Having been bought out by DBK Back, the former team from Utility Cost Management Ltd will be working under the trading name DBK Connect - a brand newly created in recognition of the huge growth potential this specialist consultancy sector offers within the next five to 10 years.

DBK Connect will offer advice on the most efficient and cost effective methods to deliver electricity, telecommunications, gas and water supplies to new developments, which, since privatisation, deregulation and the heightening impact of infinite supplies, has become highly complex.

Tim Downing, managing director of DBK Back, said: “Acquiring Utility Cost Management Ltd and launching the specialist consultancy service under the newly created brand of DBK Connect is a very exciting move for the company.

“Since we underwent a management buy-out 12 months ago, we have secured new business with a construction value of well in excess of £200million, far surpassing all our initial expectations for organic growth.

“However, it has always been our aim to keep the business fresh through strategic acquisitions. Being a consultant within the development and construction industry means keeping pace with an ever-changing business climate, and we are hungry to develop the business in new directions, as long as it positively impacts on our core service delivery.”

In addition to the Birmingham headquarters office, where DBK Back has 60 employees, the company also has offices in London and Manchester, where a further 20 employees are based. The company expects to have grown its newly acquired Ipswich office to a team of eight by mid 2007, supplementing the three utility consultants - who will work across the UK - with project managers, cost consultants and building services managers.

DBK Connect will continue to work on live projects that were being managed by Utility Cost Management Ltd, such as the ambitious Paddington Basin regeneration programme in central London.

Other live Utility Cost Management Ltd projects which will now be managed by DBK Connect include strategic mixed-use schemes for J Sainsbury plc, the Royal Bank of Scotland, CLS Developments and Beetham, and predominantly residential schemes for Dandara and Berkeley Homes.