State of UK buy-and-build, Autumn 2026 · Civil Engineering

UK civil engineering consolidation: Autumn 2026

UK deals by buy-and-build platforms in civil engineering since January 2022, as filed at Companies House

Buy-and-build platforms have made at least 20 UK deals in civil engineering since January 2022, as filed at Companies House, by 15 different platforms, 3 of them buying in the last twelve months.

Deals per year

UK deals as filed at Companies House Still filling in: less than a year of filings behind it

Source: ExitRadar analysis of Companies House filings. Free to reuse with attribution to ExitRadar.

Deals in the twelve months to 25 October 2026

Platforms buying in the last twelve months

12.6%

Companies at £250k–£5m EBITDA already part of a group

129

Independent companies in our top band for exit readiness today

Who owns the trade

1,602 active UK civil engineering companies have £250k–£5m of EBITDA. 12.6% of them are already part of a group; the rest, owned by individuals, are the pool buy-and-build platforms buy from.

Part of a group 12.6%Owned through a personal holding company 18.7%Owned directly by individuals 68.7%

Source: ExitRadar analysis of Companies House filings. Free to reuse with attribution to ExitRadar.

Platforms buying in the trade

Among the platforms that bought in the last two years, named from a public source, alphabetically: Celnor.

Inside the trade

Sub-trade	Deals
Testing, inspection, certification & calibration	1

Bought companies labelled from their own descriptions; a company can sit in more than one sub-trade. Source: ExitRadar analysis of Companies House filings. Free to reuse with attribution to ExitRadar.

See the companies behind these numbers

Build a buy box for Civil Engineering and see how many independent UK companies fit it today.

Build a buy box

How we count

A deal is a change of control filed on the register of people with significant control, from a company's individual owners to a buy-and-build platform; two companies bought on one day count once. Asset purchases and deals outside the UK are missed, so every count is a floor. Full method and the cross-sector report.

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