Richard Jackson plc

What Richard Jackson plc does

Richard Jackson Limited (trading as Richard Jackson plc) is a UK-based engineering consultancy and chartered building surveying practice founded in 1976 by Richard Jackson in Hadleigh, Suffolk. The firm operates from six offices — Colchester (headquarters), London, Cambridge, Norwich, Bristol, and Cardiff — and serves clients across East Anglia, Essex, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, London, the South West, and South Wales. Services span structural engineering, civil engineering, geotechnical engineering, pre-planning consultancy (flood risk, transport, drainage, utilities assessments), building surveying, insurance surveying, dilapidations, party wall, project management, historic and listed building consultancy, and expert witness work. The firm holds RICS regulation and Constructionline Gold, ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and SMAS accreditations, with senior leadership including Fellows of the Institution of Civil Engineers.

The company generates revenue on a project-based professional services model, with fees quoted per engagement for design, assessment, advisory, and dispute resolution work. Distribution is direct, relationship-driven, and regional: chartered engineers and surveyors are deployed through the office network to property developers, housing associations, commercial operators, insurers, loss adjusters, and local authorities. Notable proprietary tools include Dynamic Cone Penetrometer equipment for in-situ pavement and soil testing, 2D flood modelling to Environment Agency standards, and BRE365-compliant infiltration testing with unsupervised data loggers. A wholly-owned subsidiary, Smarter Travel Ltd, provides sustainable travel planning for new developments.

The firm is privately held following a 2011 management buyout led by current CEO Richard Miall (Chartered Engineer since 1999, FICE since 2023). Headcount is in the 51-100 range, and the company celebrated its 50th anniversary in May 2026. There are no disclosed funding rounds, acquisitions, or public listings, and the ownership structure beyond the MBO is not publicly detailed. Growth has been organic, with office expansion into Bristol and Cardiff in 2018-2019 representing the most recent geographic build-out.

Name

Richard Jackson plc

Legal name

Richard Jackson Limited

Website

https://richardjackson.uk.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1976

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Richard Jackson plc is a UK-based engineering consultancy and chartered building surveying practice founded in 1976, operating from six regional offices and serving property developers, housing associations, insurers, and public sector clients with structural, civil, geotechnical, and pre-planning engineering alongside building consultancy services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

NAICS

Architectural, Engineering, and Related Services (5413), Surveying and Mapping (except Geophysical) Services (541370), Environmental Consulting Services (54162)

akta.pro primary industry

Construction Management (Agency/Owner’s Rep) (IMAFAAAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

Real Estate Development Asset Management (Project/Construction-to-Stabilization) (BPAJAMAL)

Keywords

• Structural engineering consulting
• Civil engineering design
• Building surveying services
• Geotechnical engineering
• Pre-planning consultancy

Headquarters

HQ city

Colchester

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices6 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Engineering Consultancy Services: Professional engineering services including structural engineering, civil engineering, geotechnical engineering, and pre-planning consultancy. Revenue generated through project-based fees for design, assessment, and advisory services.
2. Building Surveying Services: Chartered building surveying services covering building surveys, insurance surveying, project management, dilapidations, party wall matters, and historic building consultancy. RICS regulated services provided to commercial and residential clients.
3. Smarter Travel Services: Sustainable travel planning services for workplace and residential developments, including travel plan creation, coordination, and monitoring. Operated through Smarter Travel Ltd subsidiary.
4. Expert Witness Services: Expert witness and dispute resolution services for commercial and residential property disputes, including appearances in High Court (TCC) and County Courts.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Richard Jackson Limited provides multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy and building surveying services to property developers, housing associations, commercial clients, insurers and public sector bodies. The practice delivers structural engineering, civil engineering, geotechnical engineering, pre-planning assessments, expert witness work, and chartered building surveying services (including insurance surveying, project management, historic/listed building consultancy, dilapidations, party wall matters, specialist surveys and building design). The SmarterTravel sub-brand supplies sustainable travel planning for new developments.

Product overview

Richard Jackson plc operates as a unified engineering consultancy and building surveying practice rather than a platform-plus-modules architecture. The company offers three main product lines: (1) Engineering Consultancy covering structural engineering, civil engineering, geotechnical engineering, pre-planning services, expert witness, and defects surveys; (2) Building Consultancy providing chartered building surveying services including insurance surveying, project management, historic buildings consultancy, dilapidations, party wall surveying, specialist surveys, and building design; and (3) SmarterTravel, a specialist sustainable travel planning service for developments. These services are delivered from offices in Colchester (head office), London, Cambridge, Norwich, Bristol, and Cardiff, with the engineering and building consultancy divisions working together to provide integrated solutions for construction and property projects.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Smarter Travel: Sustainable travel planning and travel plan coordination services for workplace and residential travel planning

Quantifiable outcome

• Planning approval secured for 160 dwellings at appeal for Hopkins Homes
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• Brown and CominorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 5 April 2022Collaborated on A1 residential development planning appeal. Brown and Co created the site layout while Richard Jackson provided access redesign, traffic assessment, and WCHAR analysis for 9-dwelling scheme adjacent to A1.
• JaynicminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 17 March 2020Engineering services for Jaynic's EpiCentre scheme at Haverhill Research Park. £3.5m loan from West Suffolk Council and £2.7m Local Growth Fund investment. 30,000 sq ft four-storey office development.
• Epsilon Design Engineers (Cairn Cross Group)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 June 2019Partnership with Epsilon Design Engineers, part of Cairn Cross Group, for Greater Anglia Train Maintenance Depot planning application in Harwich. Provided supporting documentation for delivery of planning consent.
• Jackson Civil EngineeringminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 13 June 2019Infiltration testing and geotechnical investigation services for Jackson Civil Engineering and Jaynic at Suffolk Park development. Deep testing at 5m depth to identify Croxton Sand and Gravel infiltration medium.
• WrenbridgeminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 12 September 2018Site walkover survey and ongoing assistance with management and development of commercial premises portfolio at Colworth Park, a Grade 2* listed mansion with landscaped grounds.
• Anglia Design LLPminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 May 2018Planning application managed by Anglia Design LLP for Trott Rentals commercial vehicle hire business site. Richard Jackson provided access design and technical support resolving previous planning objections.
• B Jeffrey ConstructionminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 9 May 2018Working alongside B Jeffrey Construction providing Structural and Civil design together with Project Management, Quantity Surveying and Principle Designer roles for Beyond Escapes leisure development in Pickering, Yorkshire.
• David Miller Architects (DMA)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 June 2017Collaboration on £15m mixed-use development in London utilizing BIM. Richard Jackson was invited by DMA to participate in BIM4Education video showcasing design and delivery collaboration.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Ridge and Partners LLP: UK multi-disciplinary consultancy spanning structural and civil engineering with a sizeable building surveying and project management practice (including the former Malcolm Hollis). Closely comparable combined engineering-plus-building-consultancy model.
• Pell Frischmann: Long-established UK engineering consultancy offering structural, civil, geotechnical and transportation services to property and infrastructure clients. Directly comparable on engineering service lines and UK developer/infrastructure customer base.
• Curtins: UK-headquartered structural and civil engineering consultancy with comparable multi-disciplinary services (structural, civil, geotechnical, environmental) and a similar regional-to-national office footprint. Curtins is a close direct peer on engineering design, pre-planning and infrastructure projects.
• Hydrock (now part of Stantec): Multi-disciplinary UK engineering consultancy offering structural, civil, geotechnical and building consultancy services across property and infrastructure markets. Highly comparable in service mix, regional office model and customer base to Richard Jackson.
• Waterman Group: UK-listed engineering and environmental consultancy with structural, civil, geotechnical, building services and sustainability practices. Comparable across engineering consultancy, building surveying-adjacent services and developer client base, though larger in scale.
• Clancy Consulting: UK structural and civil engineering consultancy with offices across the country, serving developers, contractors and architects on building and infrastructure projects. Directly comparable in core engineering services and project types.
• Edwards & Keeping: East Anglia-based chartered building surveying practice providing residential and commercial surveys, party wall, dilapidations and project management. Directly comparable for the building consultancy / RICS-regulated surveying part of Richard Jackson's offering in the same regional market.

Broad incumbents

• Arup: Global engineering and design consultancy with deep UK structural, civil, geotechnical and buildings practices. Represents the upper end of the market Richard Jackson competes in for complex developer and infrastructure projects.
• WSP: Global engineering professional services firm with major UK presence in structural, civil, geotechnical, environment and property services. Overlaps significantly with Richard Jackson's offerings but operates at much greater scale and breadth.
• RPS Group: UK-listed consulting firm covering engineering, environment, project management and building consultancy services. Comparable across planning, environment (flood risk) and development monitoring workstreams, though materially larger and more diversified.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/rj_ltd

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Richard Jackson plc