Gateley Smithers Purslow is a multi-disciplinary practice of building and quantity surveyors, civil and structural engineers, and architects. Our goal is to be recognised as the firm for solving complex building, construction and property issues for commercial and private clients, the public sector and the insurance claims market. We are proud to hold LR ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certified Quality Managed Systems.
Our values
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To be the best at what we do, providing top customer service
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To be understanding and straight forward
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To empower and respect our people, and have great teamwork
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To be independent, honest and fair
Our history
The practice was established in 1978 when Norman Smithers and Graham Purslow opened an office in Oakham, Rutland providing civil and structural engineering services to UK and overseas clients.
Throughout the 1980s it earned a reputation as subsidence experts which led to contracts from major insurers and loss adjusters and the firm began to diversify by employing building surveyors. In 1999 we were selected to be one of eight regional firms providing subsidence services to Royal and Sun Alliance and this gradually led to work for insurer clients nationwide.
From this base the firm has been able to secure general perils work for insurers covering the likes of fires, floods and also liability claims. We are now seen as one of the ‘go to’ practices in the UK that can provide independent professional expertise on challenging building losses and complicated liability matters. We service projects from regional offices throughout the UK. We have stayed true to our roots and still provide traditional engineering design to clients, but also building surveying, cost consultancy and architectural and planning services.
In April 2022 Smithers Purslow was acquired by legal and professional services group, Gateley and became known as Gateley Smithers Purslow.
Sustainability
As a prominent business and employer, we have a duty to understand its environmental impact and to lower our carbon footprint. As such, we have put in place a Carbon Reduction Plan and are a ‘Positive Planet Certified – Bronze Award’ organisation, which reflects our commitment to operating sustainably, and the measures we have taken to reduce our carbon footprint since 2021.
The nature of our business – surveying, engineering and architectural/ planning services – inevitably involves an element of travel for projects, and we need offices for our operations. Our Carbon Reduction Plan includes combining site visits, expanding our national coverage to reduce business travel, using alternative means of transport and fuel including hybrid pool cars, video-conferencing meetings with clients, assessing procurement processes for sustainability, supplier engagement, training, lowering our energy consumption, and reviewing our buildings for energy efficiency.
In addition, in advising clients we are committed to promoting sustainable construction products and processes and training our teams to become experts in this field.
Having measured our carbon footprint for the years 2021-2023 and embarked on a Carbon Reduction Plan devised by sustainability specialists, Positive Planet, we are pleased to announce that we have moved away from Carbon Neutrality to more impactful action to reduce our carbon emissions.
Carbon Neutrality accreditation was a key stepping stone in facilitating the measurement of our carbon emissions, developing an understanding of our impact, and for working towards Carbon Zero by 2040. It also enabled us to support technological and natural solutions to reduce carbon emissions, such as tree planting, via Positive Planet’s Climate Action Fund, which will be continued directly.
We have attained ISO 14001, the international standard for environmental management systems, to align our operations with sustainability goals.
To support our plans, we have a team of Environmental Champions and qualified personnel, including membership of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA).
Investors in People – Platinum
Investors in People is the internationally recognised standard for people management. Whilst we are immensely proud of achieving Platinum status, what is more important are the benefits felt by our clients.
When we achieved Platinum status in 2016, we were the first in our sector to obtain this and only 16th in the world to reach this standard at that time.
