Stradia reports success four months after mbo from JR Knowles

The management buy-out of Knowles Management four months ago has proved to be a success, said Nigel Barr who led the mbo together with Sharron Taylor.

The business has been renamed as Stradia.

“It’s working well, a lot better than I had imagined,” said Barr. The nervousness is easing as Stradia has maintained the same clients.”

When Hill International bought the JR Knowles Group in September 2006, it was basically for its disputes and claims workload. The management team, whose work accounting for 10%-15% of Knowles’ group turnover, saw that they did not fit with future strategy and staged an mbo.

Stradia offers partnering and procurement services, including the Public Sector Partnering Contract (PSPC) which is now being used by 30 local authorities, with Manchester being the biggest.

“We’re developing into several new areas of operation,” said Barr, “with one of these being property works where we have an asset management tool.”

A future challenge is seen to be the ending of the Decent Homes initiative, where Stradia does a lot of work, in 2010 or 2012. Contractors wonder where the workload to replace it will come from. Stradia’s answer has been to already to make moves into work on Building Schools for the Future (BSFF).

Also, Stradia has expanded its presence in Scandinavia. With a base in Denmark already, it has bow opened up in Sweden as several Scandinavian clients are interested in using the English model for partnering and best practice.

Stradia works with players such as Kier, Apollo, Connaught, Lovell and Keepmoat.