The merger of two firms normally creates an air of unease and anxiety but following a job swap initiative at Beresford Blake Thomas’s Birmingham office, Simon Girling, associate director at Hill McGlynn, is looking forward to joining his new BBT colleagues and pooling both firms’ knowledge of the construction sector.

“We are going to be offering a much more complete solution and we are going to have a much more complete information flow about the industry that we work in,” Girling told Recruiter.

The job swap follows the decision to merge the two construction recruitment firms under the Randstad banner. From October, the firms will be known as Randstad Construction, Property & Engineering.

The firms specialise in different ends of the construction cycle with Hill McGlynn concentrating on construction and property, while BBT focus on professionals with a consultancy or engineering background. Girling told Recruiter he was looking forward to tapping into his new collegaues’ industry knowledge.

He said that a key benefit of the merger would be able to sit next to Nic Yates, regional manager at BBT’s Birmingham office, and his other BBT colleagues every day and tap into their knowledge of the personnel that are required in the phase before construction on a building site begins.

Such personnel include the scientists and engineers specialised in contaminated land, environmental impact, noise and acoustics and asbestos specialists recruited by Paul Farnell who looks after BBT’s Environmental divison the North of England and Scotland. Zoe Kennedy, sector manager of BBT’s geotechnical division, told Girling about the geotechnical and engineering geologists who would investigate site conditions and the risks attached to building on a site.

Girling added that the BBT’s team knowledge will be helpful to their colleagues in recognising when construction is likely to commence on a site as the the BBT’s consultants would know when and where environmental personnel were being recruited.

“All our business is inextricably linked. Because they are strong on environmental recruitment, they can tell us what will impact our business. We now have a more thorough knowledge of the whole sector we deal with. I think for me that is going to be a massive benefit.”

And according to Mark Bull, who will lead Randstad Construction, Property & Engineering’s UK operation, it is likely that the new entity will end up a blend of the two firms’ strengths: “BBT has a strong record in the market it operates in. We have a particular way of doing things and so have BBT. Let’s run with what we both do, it clearly seems to work, you are very comfortable with it. It is generating fees, clients are comfortable with it so they will carry on with that. Over time a new integrated model will develop.”