Culture first - establishing the Perfect Circle business

Having worked with SCAPE for over five years through the highly successful Project Management and Quantity Surveying (PMQS) framework, the Built Environment Consultancy Services (BECS) framework creates an opportunity for our team to maintain momentum and a successful track-record with clients across the UK.

But, more importantly, it also creates the opportunity to expand, develop and enhance the great service we were already providing to our SCAPE framework clients. The scale and increase in scope (including design, asset management and business consultancy) gives our team the opportunity to innovate and provide even more value for organisations using the SCAPE framework.

The consortium, which eventually became Perfect Circle JV Ltd, was formed due to the compatibility of our cultures, a common vision for the framework and an understanding of the public sector borne out of breadth of experience.

Through a year of business to business (B2B) meetings, leading up to the publication of the OJEU notice, culture became the one differentiator that brought our three companies together. It also led us to turn down offers from other “top 20” consultancy businesses in the UK, where we felt they didn’t match our culture and ethos. This was, on occasions, due to too much of an immediate focus on the commercial aspects and a failure to recognise the full potential of the BECS framework.

Even though the framework has only just launched, the team had been working together for well over a year. This work comprised the bid preparations and planning how the framework would best meet the needs of clients and their communities. It is testament to the hard work of all parties that each challenge we have faced we have managed to overcome it together.

As joint venture partners, being honest and open has been key to creating the culture of Perfect Circle. The positive culture we have created has put us on the best possible footing to work together, deliver outstanding results for our clients and fully realise the potential success of the BECS framework over the next four years.

Perfect Circle is a joint venture formed by Pick Everard, Gleeds and AECOM, set up to realise value and opportunity for public authorities, SCAPE and communities across the UK. Perfect Circle leads the Built Environment Consultancy Services framework.