A company which presents vital data to help public sector organisations make informed decisions about their services and estates has joined a growing specialist estates consultancy.
Parallel Data Intelligence Limited is a web application development company specialising in interactive mapping and data visualisation.
Its detailed work helps major organisations, including Public Health England, the NHS and local authorities, to make decisions around estates planning, look at where services could be best situated in relation to population and demographics, accessibility, clinical activity, environmental factors and more.
Comprising of owner and founder Ashley Clough and Senior Developer Giles Billingsley, Parallel has now been acquired by Shared Agenda.
Ashley, who founded Yorkshire-based Parallel 25 years ago, said: “I’m looking forward to being able to work on a much wider variety of projects and bring our mapping and data visualisation skills into the work Shared Agenda is already doing, particularly within health and local authorities.
“I’m impressed by everything I’ve seen so far and we both work in a very responsive and flexible way, which is important in light of the challenges around the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Joining Shared Agenda is a really positive step for us and can only build on and compliment the diverse range of services Shared Agenda currently offers.”
Shared Agenda is an independent specialist estates consultancy born in East Yorkshire in 2013, with turnover tripling during that time.
It has become one of the fastest growing businesses of its kind in the country, working from London to Newcastle with a team of 21, including four new team members in recent months.
Shared Agenda provides strategic property advice, business case development, delivery management, project management and more, drawing on the team’s expertise to suggest appropriate, deliverable and affordable estates solutions for its customers.
The business has also been appointed to national frameworks and works with a range of health partners from primary care to hospital trusts, NHS commissioners, local authorities and blue light organisations, providing site options, strategies and new developments.
Jo Barnes, Managing Director at Shared Agenda, said Parallel joining the family is a “great fit”.
She said: “We already use Parallel’s services to inform the work we’re doing for the NHS and there are real synergies in what we do with estates analysis and increasingly around service delivery data.
“Parallel gives us extra strength and depth in problem-solving analysis to provide our customers with robust, evidence-based information for estates and business planning.
“We’re always striving to bring creative solutions to tricky problems and it’s fantastic to bolster our team’s skills and knowledge with the expertise of Parallel.”
Jo said despite the challenges of 2020, business growth is positive and cements Shared Agenda’s drive to continue in the same vein in the future.
She said: “For us, as a growing company, Parallel joining our family is a big boost for our team and will help us to bring a new dimension to the advice we offer.
“We’re continually reinvesting in our business and bringing in new talent. We have ambitions to grow further and we’re continuing to recruit new team members at all levels, including an annual graduate in take and our first school leaver apprentice this year.
“We welcome Parallel’s expertise as we look ahead to the future in ensuring we offer our customers the best range of services and solutions possible.”
Shared Agenda is part of Sewell Group, a business named in the Sunday Times Top 100 Companies to Work For list. This year, the company was awarded its eighth Best Companies accreditation and fifth appearance in the Top 100 list.
It also retained its Best Companies 3 Star ‘extraordinary’ accreditation, which recognises the highest standard of workplace engagement.
