Leading environmental and occupational safety group, Lucion Services, has acquired asbestos and environmental consultancy, Redhills.

The move doubles the size of Lucion’s current business, creating a market leader in the health and safety sector with a 395-strong workforce around the country and a turnover of £25 million.

Lucion Services is a group of environmental and occupational safety management companies that specialise in the identification, measurement, control, remediation, and education of risk management.

In addition to its headquarters in Gateshead, it has established offices in South London, Leicestershire, North Wales, Wolverhampton, Sheffield and Cambridgeshire; employing 180 people with a turnover of £12.2 million.

Dr Patrick Morton, Managing Director at Lucion Services, explained: “There is tremendous goodwill associated with the Redhill’s brand and we are delighted to have completed this purchase. The acquisition totally complements our existing business offering, making it an ideal fit for us and a game-changer for our industry.

“Rapid growth of the asbestos management market place in recent times has brought with it many challenges. I’m proud to say that as a business we’ve always adapted quickly and been creative in our approach to supporting clients.

“From technological advances to technical skills and knowledge, we have consistently placed ourselves at the cutting edge of industry development. As demand for trusted, quality providers of asbestos management services hits an all-time high, we couldn’t be better placed to join forces in delivering a more efficient, stronger and robust service offering for both Lucion and Redhills clients.”

The Redhills name will continue as a trading style within Lucion Environmental Ltd and the network of regional offices will share back office systems and processes in addition to collaborating on new ideas for innovative service provision.

Headquartered in Dorking, Surrey, with a network of eight regional offices across England, Wales and Scotland, Redhills has a turnover of £12.8 million and employs 215 people, of which 140 form an expert team of highly qualified and experienced environmental consultants, surveyors, analysts and project managers.

Dr Lee Carter, Managing Director at Redhills, said: “There is huge potential for an exchange of ideas and development, which can only be a good thing for our employees, our customers and the industry.”

Since its inception in 2002, Lucion has experienced unprecedented growth; both organically and through acquisition. Starting out as Lucion Environmental, the company added Salbrook Vance Consultants and Lucion Training Services to deliver a broader range of services. After spotting niches in the market, it also acquired MPC Remediation in 2013 and Innov8 Safety Solutions followed in 2015.

The Chairman of Lucion, Jonathan Grant, a partner in Grants Chartered Accountants Leeds, dealt with the Corporate Finance and structuring of the transaction together with Andrew Laycock of Carrick Read Leeds who provided the legal services.

Lucion acquires Redhills

Left to right: Dr Patrick Morton of Lucion with Dr Lee Carter of Redhills.