COTTON THOMPSON COLE LIMITED

What COTTON THOMPSON COLE LIMITED does

Cotton Thompson Cole Limited (trading as CTC) is a privately held UK design and construction consultancy founded in 1987 through the merger of two Chartered Quantity Surveyor firms — Cotton Commercial and Thompson Cole. The firm is headquartered in Dorking, Surrey, and is wholly owned by Managing Director Andrew Bridge, who joined the partnership in 1993 and inherited full ownership in 2003. The firm operates with a small visible team of approximately seven professionals across senior project management, quantity surveying, and company secretarial functions, structured as an owner-operated boutique consultancy with no external institutional investment.

CTC's core offering comprises five integrated professional services — Project Management, Interiors (Interior Design), Cost Management, Building Surveying, and Client Representatives — supported by a Procurement function. Services are delivered individually or bundled as full-service packages, guiding restaurant and hospitality projects from pre-acquisition due diligence through design, regulatory compliance, contractor management, and operational handover. The business model is fee-for-service professional consulting, with pricing quoted on a project-by-project basis and revenue generated through consulting engagements rather than product sales or recurring subscriptions. Go-to-market is sales-led, relying on long-term client relationships and referrals within the UK and international restaurant and hospitality sector.

The firm's commercial focus is heavily concentrated in the UK food and beverage vertical, where it claims over 300 completed restaurant projects since 1993, with marquee enterprise clients including Gaucho, CAU, Busaba Eathai, Wagamama, Franco Manca, Coya, Real Greek, Pizza Pilgrims, The Arts Club, and Harvey Nichols. Service delivery extends internationally to Dubai and Hong Kong, and the firm has begun diversifying into adjacent verticals including residential property developments, children's activity camps, and the biogas industry. The firm has no disclosed AI, software, or technology platform offerings, and derives no disclosed recurring or subscription revenue.

Name

COTTON THOMPSON COLE LIMITED

Legal name

Cotton Thompson Cole Limited

Website

https://cottonthompsoncole.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1987

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Cotton Thompson Cole Limited (CTC) is a privately held UK Chartered Surveying design and construction consultancy, founded 1987 and owned by Managing Director Andrew Bridge, providing Project Management, Cost Management, Interior Design, Building Surveying, and Client Representation services to restaurant and hospitality operators across the UK and internationally.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Professional Services Consulting: Revenue generated through consulting fees for professional services including Project Management, Cost Management, Interior Design, Building Surveying, and Client Representation. Services can be provided individually or as a full-service package.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Cotton Thompson Cole Limited is a Chartered Surveying firm providing design and construction consultancy services to the restaurant and hospitality sector. Its core offerings comprise five integrated services — Project Management, Interior Design, Cost Management (Quantity Surveying), Building Surveying, and Client Representation — supported by a Procurement function that sources fixtures and fittings within the UK and internationally. Services can be delivered individually or as a full package, guiding projects from pre-acquisition through operational handover.

Product overview

Cotton Thompson Cole Limited is a design and construction consultancy firm offering a unified suite of professional services for restaurant and hospitality projects. The core offering consists of five integrated services: Project Management, Interiors, Cost Management, Building Surveying, and Client Representatives, supported by a Procurement function. These services work together to guide projects from pre-acquisition stages through to operational handover, covering design collaboration, cost control, regulatory compliance, and procurement of fixtures and fittings. Founded in 1987 and headquartered in Dorking, Surrey, the firm has completed over 300 restaurant projects across the UK and internationally.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Project Management Comprehensive project management services for restaurant and hospitality clients, including client direct coordination, managing consultants, overseeing contractors, planning and programming, project coordination, quality control, site meetings, and snagging/defect management.
• Interior Design (Interiors) Interior design services including concept development, detail drawings, brief development, fixture and fitting specification, full design packs, furniture design, material specification, mood boards, signage design, and space planning for restaurant and hospitality interiors.
• Cost Management Quantity surveying and cost management services including cost plan formulation, cost reports, cash flow forecasts, contract assessment, initial capex assessments, periodic cost reports, tender analysis, valuations, contract payments, and value engineering for restaurant and hospitality projects.
• Building Surveying

Quantifiable outcome

• 300+ restaurants created across UK and internationally since 1993
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers19 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

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• ConceptualisecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDesign collaboration partner on multiple Gaucho restaurant projects and other fit-outs. Conceptualise provides design services while CTC handles project management, cost management, and procurement.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Gleeds: Gleeds is a UK-headquartered global construction consultancy offering cost management, project management and building surveying services. It is directly comparable to CTC in core surveying and PM services, though it operates at significantly greater scale and across more sectors.
• Ridge and Partners LLP: Ridge is a UK-based property and construction consultancy providing project management, cost management and building surveying services. It is a close peer to CTC in service mix and SME scale, with some hospitality and leisure exposure.
• Chapman Taylor Architects: Chapman Taylor is a UK architecture and masterplanning practice with a strong leisure, hospitality and retail sector focus including restaurants and hotels. Overlaps with CTC on hospitality design and fit-out advisory, though more design-led.
• Benoy: Benoy is an international architecture, interior design and masterplanning firm with hospitality, retail and leisure projects. Comparable to CTC where interior design and restaurant/hospitality fit-out engagements intersect.

Broad incumbents

• Foster + Partners: Foster + Partners is a leading global architecture and integrated design practice with hospitality and restaurant commissions. It operates at a much larger scale than CTC but overlaps on high-end hospitality design and project delivery.
• Turner & Townsend: Turner & Townsend is a large global construction consultancy with deep cost management and project management capabilities. It competes for the same type of hospitality and retail fit-out mandates as CTC but at much larger scale and across many sectors.
• Arcadis: Arcadis is a global design, engineering and consultancy firm with significant cost management and project management offerings. It serves restaurant and hospitality clients as part of a wider real estate and buildings portfolio.
• Cushman & Wakefield: Cushman & Wakefield is a global real estate services firm with a project and development services division that delivers fit-out and project management for restaurant and hospitality occupiers. Comparable to CTC on the hospitality PM service line.
• Mace Group: Mace is a global construction and consultancy business providing project management, cost consultancy and fit-out services. While not hospitality-specialised, it competes for restaurant and hospitality fit-out work where larger operator groups need scaled delivery.

Regional players

• Bidwells: Bidwells is a UK property consultancy with project management, building surveying and cost consultancy offerings, focused primarily on the UK and select European markets. Comparable to CTC on service mix and SME-scale UK delivery.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ctc-cotton-thompson-cole

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

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 COTTON THOMPSON COLE LIMITED