Charlie's Angels

A niche Solihull company is expanding after an electrifying five years in business. Hamer Associates is a wayleave consultancy based at Blythe Valley Innovation Centre, which is managed by the University of Warwick Science Park.

The company, which specialises in offering developers and land owners advice on the removal of overhead power lines and pylons and the most effective way they can be re-routed, moved on to Blythe Valley Business Park two years ago.

Hamer Associates has since doubled in size with the latest addition - Sara Hewston joining as Senior Surveyor. The firm has won contracts with a number of national homebuilders including Bellway, Barratts, George Wimpey and Taylor Woodrow for new developments where electricity lines need to be moved.

Managing Director Charles Hamer said he hoped to announce further exciting contracts soon. He said: “It is an extremely niche and specialist market in which we operate. Having worked within the electricity industry I know what life is like on the other side of the fence. We are not engineers, our expertise is in the knowledge of the wayleave legislation and how to use this to remove or re-route lines and pylons.

"It is absolutely crucial that homebuilders and developers can call upon our expertise to know the exact cost and practicality of making changes to electricity lines. Working for some of the biggest national homebuilders brings great credibility and we are currently working on a number of major contracts, some of which will be announced shortly.”

Hamer Associates has recently worked with Birmingham based solicitors Wragge & Co, who are acting for Miller Homes over the removal of lines on a major development site in the north of England.

Norman Childs, centre manager of the Blythe Valley Innovation Centre, said: “It’s a great example of the diversity of companies we have at Blythe Valley. It is a very, very specialist knowledge-based company and that’s why it is proving to be such a great success. Long may that continue.”