Brand guru brought in by civil engineering consultancy

The London-based design and branding guru behind the image of some of the world’s top brands has been drafted in by a leading Midlands civil and structural engineering consultancy as it goes for growth.

Steve Edge of Edge Design Ltd has provided brand and design consultancy to Cartier, Accurist, Purdey, Fortnum & Mason and Christian Dior among others. Now he is working his magic on Birmingham-based CWA Ltd.

The Jewellery Quarter-based consultancy has doubled in size in little more than two years and has now rebranded, having previously been known as Copeland Wedge Associates, to focus on its continued growth.

CWA, established in 2011, provides civil and structural design consultancy services to a wide range of sectors including leisure, education, residential, health, industrial, retail, infrastructure and public bodies. Two years ago the company had less than a dozen employees. Now it has 24 and growing, and has doubled its turnover over the same period despite a slowdown in the construction sector.

CWA director Steve Wedge said the company was working with major blue-chip clients and wanted a new, cleaner identity to reflect its growing customer base and high calibre expertise across all sectors.

“We were recommended to Steve Edge and working with him and his team has been a fantastic experience. They appreciated our sector and what we were trying achieve immediately and have come up with some terrific ideas to take us forward,” he said.

As well as a shortened new name the company – whose offices are in Caroline Street – has launched a new client-focused web site at www.cwa-eng.com  along with new corporate identity and a soon-to-be-launched high profile marketing campaign across the region.

Steve Edge said, “It is always a pleasure to work with great companies, and at the end of the day it is always about the people. Of course we can create a great brand identity, but it can only stand up if the company delivers, and CWA certainly does. I look forward to working together further to make the construction industry a more interesting environment.

CWA was formed in 2011 by directors Dave Copeland, Steve Wedge and Jim O’Donnell who between them have nearly 70 years of structural and civil engineering experience. CWA’s client base ranges from schools and colleges, residential, leisure and healthcare facilities to large-scale commercial, industrial, infrastructure and retail projects.

Major clients include Willmott Dixon Construction and Housing, Balfour Beatty, Seven Capital, RO Developments, Prologis, IM Properties, Speller Metcalfe, Wates Construction and Bullock Construction.

The company has delivered buildings for major end-user clients including West Midlands Police, Birmingham City Council, Coventry City Council, Northamptonshire County Council, Housing 21, Midland Heart, Rooftop Housing, Orbit Homes, Chevin Homes, Wrekin Housing, University of Warwick, Aston University, Coventry Sports Foundation and Marks and Spencer.