When Zac and I founded Cosgrove & Drew in 2015, we had a plan. We had work lined up, we had handed our notices in and we were ready to go. On the first day, that plan fell apart entirely. The work we had lined up either fell through or was postponed and we found ourselves on a domestic building site doing work that, if I am honest, was not what either of us had in mind.
Looking back, it was one of the best things that could have happened to us. It was a very quick lesson in what starting a business actually means. You adapt, you find a way and you get on with it. From that early experience, we began building a commercial division for the business we were contracting to at the time and that is really where the Cosgrove & Drew name started to get out there. It taught us resilience, resourcefulness and the importance of not waiting for the perfect conditions before you act. Those lessons have stayed with us ever since.
Both Zac and I came through apprenticeships in mechanical engineering. That background shapes everything about how we run the business today. We know what good work looks like from the ground up. We have been on the tools ourselves. We understand what our engineers deal with on site and that perspective informs every decision we make, from how we onboard new staff to how we manage complex projects. It also means we have a genuine respect for the people who do the work. Every engineer, every apprentice and every member of the support team plays a part in what we deliver and we never lose sight of that.
When our clients call, they know that Zac and I are available. If something needs sorting on site, we will quite happily get our tools out and go and get it done. That level of access to the director team is something our clients genuinely value and it is something we have never moved away from as the business has grown. In an industry where decisions can sometimes feel far removed from the people on the ground, we believe that staying close to the work and close to our clients is one of our most important competitive advantages.
And grow it has. From the two of us in 2015 to a team of nearly 100 today, Cosgrove & Drew has developed into a business with four distinct divisions: major projects, small works, facilities management and building fabric. Major projects takes us into some of the most complex and demanding environments in the country, from hospitals and university buildings to nuclear sites. Small works operates on a similar basis but at a smaller scale, working directly with clients in manufacturing and university facilities. Our facilities management division delivers pre-planned maintenance to operational buildings, hotels, schools and a wide range of live environments where disruption needs to be minimised and standards need to be consistently high. Building fabric supports the other divisions with fabric work and minor building works, rounding out our offering and allowing us to provide a genuinely comprehensive service to our clients.
What ties all four divisions together is our slogan: quality delivered safely. It is not a marketing line. It is the standard we hold ourselves to on every project, for every client, without exception. Quality means delivering work that is done properly, on time and on budget. Safety means ensuring that every person on every site goes home safely at the end of every day. Our clients buy from us because they trust us to deliver on both and we take that trust seriously. That trust has taken years to build and we protect it fiercely.
Culture has been central to how we have built the business. We have had people join us as apprentices in the early years of Cosgrove & Drew who have gone on to become senior leaders in the organisation. That progression does not happen by accident. It happens because we invest in our people, we give them responsibility and we create an environment where they want to stay and grow. When people feel valued and supported, they deliver better work. It really is that straightforward. The culture we have built is one of the things I am most proud of and it is something we will continue to protect as the business grows.
Over the past twelve months we have had a record year for revenue growth and margin. We have secured local authority contracts and positioned ourselves well to bid for frameworks that will underpin our growth over the coming years. We have done hundreds of projects over the years, starting from small family renovations through to school installations, all the way up to football stadiums, healthcare facilities, education buildings and nuclear sites. Each one has added to our experience, our reputation and our confidence in what this team can deliver. That performance means a great deal to me personally. Zac and I have spent over a decade building this business and to see it deliver at this level is genuinely rewarding.
Joining the EARNZ group has been an important part of our journey. It means we now have the backing of industry professionals who have built and scaled businesses in this sector before. That experience and support, combined with the network and resources of a listed group, gives us the right foundations to pursue our five year growth plan with confidence. The quality of the work we do and the people we have will not change. What changes is our ability to do more of it.
We are proud of what Cosgrove & Drew has become. We are even more excited about where it is going.
