Company says deal will spearhead move into Ireland
Gardiner & Theobald says it has bought a “significant” stake in a Belfast-based cost and project management consultant for an undisclosed sum.
G&T said the deal for WH Stephens “was supported by Hennick & Company” – the Canadian investor which took a stake in the business 18 months ago.
Hennick is already well known to UK consultants having become Foster & Partners’ largest shareholder when it bought a stake in the country’s biggest architect in 2021.
WH Stephens operates in both Northern Ireland and the Republic and as well as project and cost management carries out building surveying and principal designer services across both the public and private sectors.
The firm was set up in 1865 and, according to its last set of accounts, employed 38 people in 2024.
The figure includes seven directors led by managing director Denis McCotter who said the WHS senior leadership team will remain and retain a significant equity stake in the business with “full autonomy” over day-to-day operations.
G&T said the move spreads its geographical reach and the firm’s managing partner Adam Glover added: “This investment in WH Stephens is an important milestone in G&T’s long-term growth in Ireland and complements our wider business in the UK and US. Together we can expand our reach across Ireland [and] pursue larger and more complex public and private sector opportunities.”
In its last set of results for the year to March 2025, G&T posted a turnover up 15% to £307m and a pre-tax profit up 20% to £134m. The number of employees stood at just under 1,300 at the year-end although G&T says the figure is now around 1,500.
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