We recently announced our expansion into Belfast and Oxford and the appointments of Aaron McCarthy and Anthony Mulraney. These new directors will grow delivery team across their regions of Northern Ireland, Ireland and Scotland, and Southeast and Southwest England. The appointments are part of our overarching business plan based around a de-centralised model with localised offices. We are not only focussing on the UK, but this is our current priority and we may have further news to share in the coming months.

Our strategy for a de-centralised approach is to have local understanding through local presence; to better service our clients by being on the ground, and to enable us to draw on UK-wide talent. Engineering resource has become extremely hard to acquire, by having multiple locations, we can widen our net and find the right people for our team.

Our ambition to grow in both size and expertise, share our knowledge with others and work with people who hold the same personal and professional commitment to sustainability has always been fundamental to Hive, even as a small team of 10.

This is why in 2021, we merged with SCMS. The company was proudly positioning itself as the leader in M&E for Modular Construction techniques and this drive for innovation, to show the true value of M&E engineering, was completely aligned with our own. As one team, we are now able to demonstrate how high-quality, detailed M&E can push clients towards net zero as well as enable the speed and efficiencies of MMC.

We’re already building up a presence across the UK and internationally, delivering Fair Isle Bird Observatory Hotel, Scotland, a hotel in Saudi Arabia, modular apartments in Dubai, and we’re prototyping in California. The formation of Hive Group enables us to provide a much wider, cross-sector offer to our clients.

Like MMC, Passivhaus is a methodology that is becoming more mainstream as a highly sustainable, construction technique. This makes Belfast, with its drive for Passivhaus Premium assets, an opportunity for Hive Group to demonstrate the importance of M&E in the delivery of net zero and the value that credible, high-quality M&E and sustainability experts bring to a project.

As Universities pledge a greener approach to building new, reusing assets and operating their portfolios, Hive Group is perfectly positioned to support them with a combined and unique combination of M&E, MMC and Passivhaus Principles; an efficient and effective delivery of high-quality building services for laboratories, pharma and research and student accommodation.

Increasingly, Hive Group is advising and assisting architects on the form and fabric of buildings. Energy use and carbon reduction is now a primary focus for many of our clients and the only way to achieve this is the detailing and advancement of MEP design.

As a team, we are gratified that our work has the potential to make a significant, tangible difference to the negative impact of climate change. Our growth does not simply increase our company’s engineering skills, it brings together a collection of like-minded people who are passionate about affecting change. We do this by delivering new buildings that are smarter, greener and more efficient, and optimising existing buildings so they are fit for purpose.

It’s easy to talk about change, but without truly believing in it, it will never happen. With the skills we have as engineers and the principles we have against tackling climate change, we have the opportunity to advise and implement engineering strategies that make a positive and long-lasting impact.