Sunley Turriff shifts surveyors to Lothian

Sunley Turriff Construction has outsourced its entire quantity surveying department to MAS Lothian. Talks are in progress between Lothian and other leading contractors who may follow Sunley's lead.

Lothian has signed an agreement to provide QS services to Sunley for a four-year period. A basic fee of £5 million allows for adjustments according to workload.

Bob Codling, md of Sunley Turriff, said: "It offers greater flexibility and will produce cost savings. It is the right move for us and I see no reason why other contractors shouldn't follow suit. We chose Lothian because we have a good working relationship with it."

Sunley Turriff is predominantly a building group, with some civils workload. Group turnover runs to £120 million, with the construction business accounting for £85 million of this.

Hew Lothian said this week: "The move is in line with the findings of the 'Egan' report, with Sunley showing savings on the deal. It would have cost them more if they had done nothing."

Lothian established his QS business in 1981. In 1996 it was bought by the Schofield Group whose main business is QS secondment to sites and projects. Schofield has 200 fee-earners.

"The move came about mutually," said Lothian, speaking from Hong Kong where he is about to open a new office. "Bob Codling, and myself were discussing how we could help Sunley. It took six months to sort out the details. It's a radical move. We've taken on 35 staff from Sunley - they are all QSs as we only supply a QS service."

Ahead of the deal with Sunley, Lothian appointed Jenny Hutchinson to a new position as his company's chief executive surveyor.

Lothian added that he is talking to other contractors at the moment. "Two or three of the Top 50 contractors might follow Sunley's lead," he said. "We could also offer the service to a division within a major group, perhaps if the owner wanted to separate its buildings business from its civils arm. It is practical for us to offer such a service."