What CADS does

CADS (C A Design Services Ltd) is a UK-based, privately held retail space planning, surveying, and design specialist founded in 1980 and headquartered in Great Yarmouth, with additional offices in Edinburgh and Leeds. The company delivers multi-disciplinary services to major national and international retailers — including store layout optimization, macro and micro space planning, category adjacency planning, measured building surveys, retail as-built surveys, and store design — through a team of 54 dedicated retail planners (the largest such UK team) supplemented by 150 specialist housing surveyors and an architecture/design arm via sister company Prosper. Its proprietary technology platform, StoreSpace® (developed by sister company StoreSpace Insights), operates inside AutoCAD .dwg files, integrates directly with Nielsen planograms under a NielsenIQ Connected Partner arrangement, supports model store replication and sales heat map overlays, and is hosted on Microsoft Azure for international data localisation compliance; surveying operations use 3D laser scanning and Matterport Digital Twin platforms.

The business operates three distinct revenue streams. Professional services for retail space planning and surveying are delivered on a project or retainer basis to enterprise retail clients, with StoreSpace® software licensing offered on a subscription basis by the sister company. Managed services revenue is generated through CADS Housing Surveys, which has fulfilled the English Housing Survey since 2002 as part of a consortium with NatCen and BRE, conducting over 6,000 physical home inspections per year under commission from the UK Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Scottish Government. Pricing is not publicly disclosed; all engagements are quote-based and tailored to scope, estate size, and service requirements.

CADS serves a concentrated enterprise customer base spanning grocery (Sainsbury's, Asda, Morrisons, Waitrose, Lidl, M&S, Spar), fashion and luxury (Primark, Watches of Switzerland Group, Polo Ralph Lauren, B&Q, Pets at Home), financial services (Nationwide Building Society, Santander), pharmacy (Well Pharmacy), and government, with several relationships exceeding 10–15 years in tenure. The company is independently owned under Managing Director Aaron Wright, holds ISO 9001, ISO 27001, and Cyber Essentials certifications, and operates without external institutional investment.

Name

CADS

Legal name

C A Design Services Ltd

Website

https://cadsonline.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1980

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

CADS is a UK-based retail space planning, surveying, and design specialist serving major national and international retailers. It combines StoreSpace® AutoCAD-based software, 3D laser and Matterport surveying, and government housing inspections under a multi-disciplinary ecosystem of sister companies.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Retail Space Planning Services

NAICS

Interior Design Services (54141), Drafting Services (541340), Other Specialized Design Services (54149)

SIC

Services-Mailing, Reproduction, Commercial Art & Photography (7330)

akta.pro primary industry

Interior Design Services (BPAHAKAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Building Information Modeling (BIM) & Digital Design Services (BPAHAKAK)

Keywords

• Retail space planning
• Store layout optimisation
• Retail surveying services
• Measured building surveys
• Retail design services

Headquarters

HQ city

Yarmouth

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Retail Space Planning Services: Project-based professional services for store layout optimisation, macro space planning, category adjacency planning, space utilisation analysis, and flow/operational efficiency planning. Delivered by a team of 54 experienced UK-based retail planners as an add-on resource to in-house teams. Flexible support is offered for ongoing or ad-hoc requirements.
2. Retail Survey Services: Measured building surveys, retail as-built surveys, and Matterport digital twin surveys conducted by UK-based surveyors throughout the UK and Europe. Survey deliverables include 2D CAD drawings, reflected ceiling plans, internal elevations, photo location plans, and 3D models. Used to support planning, compliance, and rollout projects with minimal lead times.
3. StoreSpace® Software Licensing: StoreSpace Insights (sister company) provides StoreSpace software licensing with subscription-based access to the AutoCAD-based retail space planning platform, web-based portal, and integrated planogram management. Commercial delivery includes feasibility project leadership, implementation support, and customer success programme.
4. Housing Survey Services (Government Contracts): CADS Housing Surveys delivers the English Housing Survey (EHS) and Scottish Household Survey as a National Statistic status survey commissioned by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) as part of a consortium led by NatCen and BRE. Over 6,000 physical home inspections per year conducted by a team of 150 specialist housing surveyors.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

CADS (C A Design Services Ltd) is a UK-based retail space planning specialist delivering multi-disciplinary services including retail space planning, store layout optimisation, retail store surveys (3D laser scanning, Matterport digital twins, as-built surveys), and retail design via sister company Prosper. It also offers StoreSpace® AutoCAD-based retail space planning software (developed by sister company StoreSpace Insights) and fulfils government-commissioned housing surveys such as the English Housing Survey.

Product overview

CADS (C A Design Services Ltd) is a multi-disciplinary retail planning specialist offering an integrated platform of retail space planning services and software. The core offering consists of StoreSpace® (AutoCAD-based retail space planning software), expert retail space planning services (with a team of 54 UK-based planners), retail store surveys (Matterport digital twins, 3D laser scanning, as-built surveys), retail design services delivered by sister company Prosper, and CADS Housing Surveys. These products work together: surveys capture accurate floor plan data which feeds into StoreSpace® software for macro and micro space planning, enabling optimized store layouts and model stores that are then implemented through retail design services for consistent estate-wide rollout.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• StoreSpace® AutoCAD-based retail space planning software that works inside .dwg files, integrates Nielsen planograms and sales data heat maps, and uses intelligent block libraries and toolsets for category space optimisation and model store replication.
• Retail Space Planning Services Expert retail space planning services delivered by a team of 54 UK-based store planners, including store layout optimisation, category adjacency planning, space utilisation analysis, and flow and operational efficiency planning for grocery, convenience, fashion and homewares retailers.
• Retail Store Surveys UK-based retail survey services using 3D laser scanning, Matterport digital twin 3D virtual tours, and measured building/as-built surveys, delivering 2D CAD drawings, reflected ceiling plans, internal elevations and photo location plans for planning, compliance and rollout projects.
• Retail Design Services Retail architecture and design services delivered by sister company Prosper, including concept design and rollout, desktop feasibilities, architectural design development, and delivery and compliance services for consistent estate-wide store formats.
• CADS Housing Surveys Government-commissioned housing survey services fulfilling the English Housing Survey and the Scottish Household Survey, with a team of 150 specialist housing surveyors conducting physical home inspections and HHSRS assessments for national housing condition statistics.
• Store Planning Flexible Resource Flexible staffing resource providing additional retail planners to support fluctuating workloads, including remote, client head office, or CADS Great Yarmouth working models for multi-site floor plan updates, compliance and high-demand periods.
• Primark Guru Architectural specification and standards portal developed by sister company Prosper (using Elecosoft IconSystem) that centralises and manages design standards across a retailer's global estate, linking architectural specifications, equipment manuals and store plans for design compliance.
• Office Space Planning Commercial office space planning service that creates and manages floor plans to maximise functional space and workflow while accommodating detailed system integrations and improving staff efficiency and internal communications.

Named customers32 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration7 records

AI capability2 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered major, core and minor.

• Polo Ralph LaurenmajorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 January 2016Polo Ralph Lauren commissions CADS to conduct as-built retail surveys for their European store concessions. Starting with 255 surveys in 25 European countries in 2016 within a two-week turnaround per location, this partnership has continued for over 10 years with surveys still being commissioned for new and refurbished store locations.
• StoreSpace InsightscoreTechnology or IntegrationStoreSpace Insights is the sister company that develops the StoreSpace® AutoCAD-based retail space planning software. CADS retail planning services integrate with StoreSpace software to deliver macro space planning, model store creation, and estate-wide data management for clients. The software enables CADS to offer automated reporting and planogram integration.
• ProspercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerProsper is CADS' sister retail design agency and architectural practice that delivers the inspiration to turn retail space into engaging shopping experiences. Prosper developed the Primark Guru architectural specification portal and provides concept design, feasibility studies, and rollout architecture. Together with CADS, Prosper and StoreSpace Insights form a multi-disciplinary service offering for retail clients.
• NielsenIQcoreTechnology or IntegrationStoreSpace Insights is a NielsenIQ Connected Partner with close integration between StoreSpace® software and Nielsen's Spaceman planogram software. This integration enables drag-and-drop of planograms onto AutoCAD floor plans with automated size validation and fixture coverage checking. CADS retail planning teams work with NielsenIQ planograms as part of their macro space planning service.
• National Centre for Social Research (NatCen)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCADS operates as part of a consortium led by NatCen and the Building Research Establishment (BRE) to deliver the English Housing Survey. This government-commissioned National Statistic survey has been conducted by CADS since 2011, with approximately 6,200 physical surveys per year.
• Building Research Establishment (BRE)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBRE is the second consortium lead alongside NatCen for the English Housing Survey. CADS provides the physical survey inspections as part of this consortium delivering the national housing condition survey.
• RH Environmental LtdminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCADS' Housing Survey Team partnered with RH Environmental Ltd alongside other organisations to deliver the Housing, Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) review, as part of a two-year project commissioned by MHCLG.

Scale indicators13 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• DotActiv: South Africa/UK-headquartered retail planogram, category management and space-planning SaaS provider. Directly comparable to StoreSpace at the software layer with similar NielsenIQ-adjacent category management integrations, and competes with CADS planning services in UK retail.

Broad incumbents

• Blue Yonder: Enterprise retail space-planning and supply-chain platform (formerly JDA Software). Broad incumbent serving many of the same enterprise retailers as CADS with overlapping category and space-planning capabilities.
• RELEX Solutions: Finnish enterprise software for retail planning, forecasting, replenishment and space optimisation. Competes in the same retail space-planning category as StoreSpace, but at larger scale with broader supply-chain optimisation capabilities.
• SymphonyAI: AI-driven retail category management and space-planning platform (built on the former Symphony RetailAI). Broad incumbent in the same space-planning and category-optimisation category as StoreSpace, selling to enterprise retailers globally.
• SAP: Largest enterprise software vendor, with retail merchandising and integrated space-planning modules (StoreSpace pushes KPI data into SAP for Watches of Switzerland). Broad incumbent that competes with and is integrated alongside StoreSpace in enterprise retail stacks.
• Manhattan Associates: Supply-chain and retail planning enterprise software vendor with category and allocation capabilities. Broad incumbent in retail planning adjacent to space planning, competing for enterprise retail IT budget that also funds CADS engagements.
• Oracle Retail: Enterprise retail merchandising, category management and planning software suite from Oracle. Broad incumbent providing overlapping retail-planning capabilities to enterprise retailers that are also CADS customers.

Others

• Kantar: Global market-research and retail insights consultancy (within Bain). Adjacent to CADS through category management and shopper-mission research that informs macro space-planning briefs, but does not deliver space-planning software or surveys directly.
• NielsenIQ: Global market-research firm and provider of Spaceman planogram software, which is the system of record StoreSpace integrates with as a NielsenIQ Connected Partner. Compares both as an integration partner and as an adjacent capability vendor in retail planning.
• Trimble: Global provider of 3D laser scanning, surveying hardware, and geospatial software used for measured-building surveys. Comparable as the underlying hardware/tools vendor whose technology CADS Surveys uses to deliver retail as-built and Matterport-style surveys.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cadsonline
• Xx.com/CADSonlineuk
• Facebookfacebook.com/CADSonlineGY

Compliance6 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments1 record

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about CADS