New owners: some of the staff of DOT Surveying

Dot Surveying has become an employee-owned company, believed the first in its field to adopt the ownership structure.

The Edinburgh-based firm, which works across the UK, including remote islands, has transferred a majority shareholding to an Employee Ownership Trust.

It specialises in the telecoms sector and also works across land acquisition and development, renewables, dispute resolution and town and country planning. 

The 21 employees comprise chartered surveyors, property managers, town & country planners and support staff.  There are also a number of freelance consultants.

The consultancy was founded in 2020 by Tom Gallivan who was the sole shareholder until the EOT was implemented. He has sold a majority of his stake to the EOT, retaining a minority shareholding to demonstrate his continuing commitment to the business.

He said: “The business has performed so extremely well over the years, surpassing my expectations on what could be achieved in a relatively short time.  This success can be attributed to the fantastic employees we have in place and it felt right that they should own the future of the company.”

Henderson Loggie provided corporate finance and taxation advice to the company. Anderson Strathern provided legal advice., while specialist lender Thincats has supported a number of EOT transactions and worked with Dot Surveying on its funding requirements.

Carole Leslie of employee ownership specialists Ownership Associates, supported stakeholder communications for the transaction and has been appointed as independent trustee.