As the JB Associates team settles into their new head office in Lymington Town Hall, it has sparked a nostalgia in those that have been working here the longest. Now a one-stop shop for all potential construction needs, with a team of 20 plus and an exciting future ahead of us, we thought we’d look back at where we started… JB Associates began in 2002, originally a sole trader company with a small, home-built office in Brockenhurst. Company co-founder, Julian Butler, states that, ‘I saw it as my career, of course, but I didn’t see it as a company that would live on past the end of that. It was my way of providing for my family and I always assumed the company would end when I retired’.
Julian Butler & Phil Loveridge from SSE have worked on projects together for over 15 years
For the first 10 years JB Associates grew slowly but surely and mainly focused on building personal and professional relationships with key clients. The company also primarily offered quantity surveying services, rather than embodying the comprehensive construction consultancy it is today. JB Associates began to truly grow off the strong foundations laid by Julian Butler and Mark Prince, once Ashley Buckland joined the business in 2014. He brought with him an impetus aimed at growth and expansion in becoming a one-stop-shop construction consultancy, more recognisable to those that know it now. Our four years at Ampress saw us grow from a 3-strong team to over 10 employees and it had huge potential to continue expanding. Therefore, the three-storey, converted industrial unit started to become inefficient for JB Associates’ future development.
JBA Ampress Park offices. We have a habit of designing and renovating our own office space…
Current managing director, Ashley Buckland, discusses the previous office space and says, ‘our time in Ampress really helped us grow as a company. I see it as the four years in which we really began expanding, not just as a team, but in the services that we started offering to all our clients’. Now, with a team of 20 plus at JB Associates and newly renovated offices in Lymington Town Hall, it seems the company has hugely progressed since 2002. We are always searching for new team members, welcoming interns and those interested in work experience, as well as supporting multiple employees through their university degrees. What’s more, our new workspace looks great – with private offices for our directors, two conference rooms and numerous desks for visitors and team-members alike, the modern and spacious layout becomes one with promising potential for the company’s future. We now have space to continue growing and hope that the next 5 years are as successful as the last. We believe, here at JB Associates, that we have grown because of the way we view construction. While we are no longer a small business working out of a make-shift office space, we have maintained some of that small-business philosophy. Primarily, we take the personal approach with our clients, something that many larger companies lack the ability to do. Those that we do business with will see our directors regularly and can place their confidence in us as a company that will strive to deliver the best services we can, whether these are from our assistant and trainee quantity surveyors or our managing director. Also, JB Associates is – at its roots – a family-oriented and local business that employs local people and supports and welcomes the family members of everyone within the team. From summer BBQ’s and Christmas parties, to family open days at the new head office, we focus on not loosing sight of where and how we started as a business.
