We are delighted to announce that Crookes Walker is moving to become an employee-owned business (EOT). The majority shareholding will move to an employee-owned trust, which will manage the business on behalf of our employees.
Founded in Manchester in 2004 by Dave Walker and Paul Crookes, CWC is now one of the largest independent M&E consultancies in the North West, with over 50 staff in offices in Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham.
In order to give clear direction and certainty for the business, our employees and clients, the move to an employee-owned trust was seen as the best way to secure the future of the business and reward the staff for their hard work and dedication over the last 18 years.
The Board of directors will remain unchanged with Chris Skinner as CEO, Andy Ringland as CTO, and Steve Plant as CFO. The Board will work with the Trust to deliver our continued growth and development plans and safeguard the ethos and core values that underpin our business.
Chris says: “It is a privilege to have the opportunity to lead this great business through its next stage of evolution and the EOT structure will perfectly reflect and secure the principles upon which the company is founded.”
Why Become an Employee Owned Business?
The new structure will allow all our employees to share in the business’ success, as well as having more influence over the way the business is run.
We have always said our employees are at the heart of our business, so realising this now through the formation of an employee-owned trust consolidates this ethos and underpins our values as a business. The EOT will be operated for the benefit of the employees, providing governance and oversight of the board, who will continue to run the business on a day-to-day basis.
We believe this will be a positive change in the way we run our business, secure our future as an independent consultancy and maintain our focus on delivering a personal service. In today’s competitive market, we also see it as a positive step to attract and retain the very best talent, which is essential to us continuing to deliver the very best for our clients.
Founders Paul Crookes and Dave Walker explain how they came to this decision: “CWC is a knowledge based business, with a reputation for team working and excellence. We are only as good as the people within the practice and we wanted to ensure that with any succession plan, their future was not just secured but enhanced. EOT is the ideal way to achieve both goals whilst helping to attract and retain the best talent in the industry.
As a forward facing business CWC needs to ensure it has the ability to be agile and open to change. EOT provides the opportunity for the next generation of engineering expertise and business ideas to flourish in an environment where openness and creativity benefits everyone.”
