When Liberty QS directors Stuart Harrison and Dave Lampard felt the time was right to move into new premises, they knew they wanted to stay in the borough where their construction consultancy business was established in 2014. Top of their wish list were not only facilities to accommodate their clients, meaning less time on the road, but also somewhere with the ‘wow’ factor.
Here they tell us why the Maidstone Innovation Centre (MIC) ticked all the boxes, as well as sharing the details of their latest new project.

1. What kind of projects does Liberty QS work on?

Stuart: We’re a firm of quantity surveyors and project managers, working as construction consultants. We get involved in a project very early on to help clients manage and make the most of their budget, as well as working with the design team to help them achieve their aims for a build. We work on all sorts of builds from private residential, house builds, large extensions, multi-million pound apartment blocks, light industrial and distribution centres, and medical sites.

2. Can you tell us a bit more about your work with the medical sector?

Dave: One of our most recent projects was working on the construction of Royal Papworth Hospital, a state-of-the-art hospital on Cambridge Biomedical Campus which opened in 2019. We were responsible for all the project management on the site. Our latest project is also for the medical sector and is based where we are now, on Kent Medical Campus – it’s a health and wellbeing village.

3. How will the health and wellbeing village be used?

Dave: The village will be made up of several different units, like individual offices or clinics to facilitate patients ranging from NHS to private clinics. We are working on constructing the shell and core of each unit and then each consultant that moves in will tailor them to fit their exact needs and the services they’re offering their patients. It’s a big project that really fits the aspirations of the campus. It’s in the planning stages at present and won’t start until the final quarter of this year.

4. Why is the MIC the right location for your business?

Stuart: We wanted somewhere that represented our business outlook. The MIC is a modern open office space with amazing aesthetics, we really like the look and feel of the building. It’s also got all the facilities we need like meeting and conference rooms. It means we can invite clients here rather than having to travel to them, which we used to do a lot. It saves us so much time and means we can deliver more. The support on site is really good too – we’ve actually engaged the IT team here as our own IT support staff. It just goes to show how important it is to have connectivity. For our team personally, it’s so easy to get to, too – it’s close to the M20 and we don’t have to travel through town. Our guys love it.

This sort of flexible office working, it’s got to be the way to go – people don’t want huge spaces, they want to upsize and downsize. If you have a building that’s flexible around you as a business, you want to stay.

Also, we’re always looking at doing more community projects, like GP surgeries and we’re going to try to look at NHS frameworks this year. Being based here really helps.

5. What’s your advice to other new businesses?

Stuart: The first couple of years are always tough – the key is to make sure you’ve got a direction. Having a client that can support you in the early stages is really important. Having the right staff too is vital, they’re the assets.

When the pandemic first happened, we were really nervous about how the market would react – some projects were quite large so they just had to keep going, but with adaptations. We found that we looked inward and we tried to be as efficient as possible and keep jobs available. We managed to make no redundancies or pay cuts, and just focused on being available for our clients. If you deliver a good service, clients came back. We were very lucky but we were flexible enough to be prepared.

Maidstone Innovation Centre is part funded by the European Union Regional Development Fund 2014 – 2020.