SOCOTEC UK & Ireland buys bridge inspection consultancy Inertia in seventeenth deal since 2017

SOCOTEC UK & Ireland has acquired Inertia Consulting, a bridge engineering and structural inspection specialist with 50 full-time staff, in what the testing, inspection and certification group said was its seventeenth acquisition since 2017.

The deal, announced on 30 October, adds bridge engineering, temporary works design, structural inspection and NDT (non-destructive testing) to SOCOTEC's existing civil and geotechnical engineering, structural investigation, construction testing, monitoring and surveying services. No deal value was disclosed.

SOCOTEC said the acquisition would strengthen its position with National Highways, Network Rail and other major asset owners and Tier 1 contractors.

Hervé Montjotin, SOCOTEC Group CEO, said: "Bringing Inertia Consulting onboard will help SOCOTEC UK & Ireland reach a new level of scale and capability in bridge engineering and structural inspection."

The business

Inertia Consulting was founded in 2006 by David Roome and has worked in the UK bridge engineering and inspection sectors since, according to SOCOTEC. Its own history page says Roome later invited Ryan Bradley to join as a fellow director; both men are described in the announcement as co-group directors.

The firm has offices in Derby, Falkirk, Cwmbran and Cheshire. SOCOTEC said its client relationships sat mainly within the highways sector, where it holds multiple frameworks.

Inertia describes itself as a provider of bridge and civil engineering structure consultancy to public and private sector clients across the UK, with services running from bridge design and advanced analysis to non-destructive testing and inspection of civil engineering structures. Its website lists the Olympic Park, Docklands Light Railway and Derwent Valley aqueduct among its projects.

Companies House records Inertia Consulting Limited, company number 06000055, as an active private limited company with its registered office at Cardinal Square, 10 Nottingham Road, Derby. Its last accounts were made up to 30 November 2025.

Ryan Bradley, Co-Group Director of Inertia Consulting, said: "Our team has built strong relationships with National Highways and other major infrastructure clients over two decades, and now, as part of SOCOTEC, we look forward to building on that legacy".

The acquisition run

The Inertia purchase follows two other infrastructure acquisitions that SOCOTEC UK & Ireland has announced since September 2025.

In September 2025 it acquired Lloyds Datum Group, a Belfast-headquartered specialist in foundation testing, structural monitoring, geotechnical and environmental systems. Matthew Marriott, CEO of SOCOTEC UK & Ireland, described that purchase at the time as the firm's first major acquisition in Ireland, following a second Scottish acquisition in two years.

In May 2026 it bought LSTC Group of Driffield, East Yorkshire, which provides overhead line design, CAD and survey services for the power transmission and distribution sector. SOCOTEC counted LSTC as its sixteenth acquisition since 2017.

The business's stated scale has grown over the same period. When Marriott's appointment as chief executive was announced in 2024, SOCOTEC UK said it had more than 2,000 employees and that revenue had grown from £125m to £200m in 2024. By May 2026 the group described SOCOTEC UK & Ireland as a business of 2,300 people and £240m of revenue, before the addition of Inertia's 50 staff.

SOCOTEC UK & Ireland stated revenue	£m
2024 (September 2024 announcement)	200
May 2026 announcement	240

Marriott joined SOCOTEC from Premier Technical Services Group Ltd, where he was managing director of fire solutions, replacing Nicolas Detchepare, who moved to lead SOCOTEC US.

What the deal means

Marriott said the acquisition would strengthen the group's engineering capabilities and expand its asset inspection offering "particularly as the UK continues to invest in its highways and rail networks".

Montjotin said the deal was aligned with SOCOTEC Group's global strategy to accelerate its development in critical infrastructure, particularly transport infrastructure and major projects.

David Roome, Co-Group Director of Inertia Consulting, said joining SOCOTEC would allow the firm to expand its bridge engineering, structural inspection and asset management services while gaining access to wider resources, expertise and clients.

SOCOTEC said Inertia would allow it to offer its services increasingly to the transport and highways infrastructure sector, where the consultancy has worked for two decades.