CPC Project Services has been ranked 7th in the Top 50 Project Managers in Building magazine’s annual Top 150 Consultants survey. That is up two places on last year and CPC’s highest position to date.
The survey also recognised CPC’s growing capability beyond project management. CPC climbed four places to 22nd in the Top 50 Engineers, and placed 21st in the Top 50 Surveyors and 31st in the overall Top 150.
This year’s survey paints a positive picture of a consultancy market that is still growing, albeit more slowly and more unevenly than in previous years. Average fee growth across the Top 150 was 8%, down from 11% two years ago. The companies outperforming that average were largely those able to shift resources towards sectors where investment is flowing, such as energy, utilities and data centres.
CPC is one of them. Its UK fee income rose 9% this year to £45.8m, and over the past two years it has grown its fees by around a third and its team to more than 460 people across eight UK offices and four international ones.
Mergers, acquisitions and private equity investment continue to reshape the market. CPC believes independent and employee-owned firms are well placed to compete on the strength of their people, their client relationships and their ability to adapt quickly.
For project management specifically, demand remains robust. Clients continue to look for experienced advisers who can steer complex programmes through cost pressure, regulatory change and a tight labour market.
Mark Cleverly, Partner and Head of Property & Construction (South), CPC Project Services, said:
“To be ranked seventh among the UK’s project managers is a real credit to our people. We’ve grown quickly, but we’ve grown by doing the basics well by delivering for our clients and giving talented people room to take on responsibility.”
“The market has been anything but straightforward this year. Where some sectors have slowed, we’ve moved quickly to redeploy expertise into areas with real momentum, particularly data centres, energy and utilities. Our engineering team’s rise in the rankings shows how much that capability now adds to what we can offer clients.”
The results come in CPC’s second full year as an employee-owned business, following its transition to employee ownership in 2024.
Mark added: “While much of our industry is consolidating, we’ve chosen a different path. Being employee-owned means every one of our people has a stake in results like these. My thanks go to the whole team, and to the clients and partners who continue to trust us with their most important projects.”
Building’s Top 150 Consultants survey is one of the construction industry’s most closely watched benchmarks. It ranks UK consultancies by fee income and chartered staff numbers across project management, engineering, surveying and architecture.
To see the full rankings and insight from the consultant survey, please visit Building Magazine’s website: Top 150 Consultants 2026
