Simon Clennell-Jones Appointed As Geoenvironmental Services Managing Director As Alex Ferguson Steps Up In Lucion Group’s Strategic Company Realignment

Simon Clennell-Jones Appointed As Geoenvironmental Services Managing Director As Alex Ferguson Steps Up In Lucion Group’s Strategic Company Realignment

In 2021, Delta-Simons announced the successful acquisition by Lucion Group, creating a leading UK mid-market environmental consultancy incorporating an unrivalled regulatory service team and with global reach through the Inogen Alliance.

With strategic investment and planning, the unified team at Lucion and its subsidiary companies have continued to grow, onboarding four companies in the past two years, in line with our strategic acquisitive growth plan. The Lucion Group now has more than 600 employees, the majority of whom are field-based technical specialists with skillsets in 50+ environmental consultancy services, including hazardous materials, ecology, air and water services, geo-environmental and sustainability among others.

As the market leading provider of environmental services to corporate and commercial clients in the UK, we are pleased to announce a key strategic company alignment, reflective of our continued organic and acquisitive growth. Lucion Group’s Communications Director Lucy Clark provides insight into Lucion’s latest activities.

During the past six months, we’ve been looking closely at the roles needed in the business to strengthen the functions that we share across the Lucion Group, and unify our interactions between all our subsidiary companies.

This has led to opportunities across the group including the appointment of Simon Clennell-Jones’ appointment to Managing Director of our Geoenvironmental services division and the appointment of Alex Ferguson, previous Managing Director of Delta-Simons to Managing Director of the Lucion Group.

Simon Clennell-Jones - Geoenvironmental Services Managing Director

Newly appointed as Geoenvironmental Services Managing Director, Simon leads the Geoenvironmental division of Delta-Simons and sits on the Senior Leadership Team for the business. He is a contaminated land and environmental due diligence professional and project manager/director with over 20 years specialising in human health risk assessment and project management. 

Simon is passionate about the projects he gets involved in and combines his technical knowledge with a strong commercial approach to assess environmental challenges, and develop effective and economic solutions for Delta-Simons clients. Simon is a Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv) and Chartered Scientist (CSci) and is a Member of the Institute of Environmental Scientists (MIEnvSc). 

“Since being promoted to the MD role for Delta Simons (Geoenvironmental) at the start of July it has been a very busy but also very productive few weeks. Having been with Delta-Simons since May 2015 the change in role prompted me to reflect on quite how much has changed over the past few years. I joined a business of only 65 people and we are now a group of over 600. The one constant has been change.

Reflecting upon more recent times, for those not in the know, Geoenvironmental Operations (GeOps) has been going through a prolonged period of rapid change. After several years of very significant growth with a structure we set in place in 2015/2016, we completed a reorganisation of our teams and structures in April 2022 to position us to deliver future growth. In parallel with this, we also supported the acquisition of Ground Engineering Limited.

As a growing team, we are focussed on our ambition of developing a sustainable business and to achieving our mission of Protecting People and Planet as part of the Lucion Group and we are continuing to grow our strong relationships across our teams, divisions, offices and operating businesses, the whole is more than the sum of the parts.”

Alex Ferguson commented on Simon’s appointment stating:

“Simon has worked extremely hard since he joined the business 7 years ago to grow the GeOps Division which now stands at over 90 people with an annual revenue of over £10m.  Simon has built a strong team around him and has recently completed the acquisition of Ground Engineering which adds a significant geotechnical capability to the Division, as well as a team of 25 specialists with a revenue of over £2m annually.  GeOps is very clearly a distinct Division under Simon’s leadership and will continue to thrive as a core part of Delta-Simons and the Lucion Group as we go forward.

Simon will continue to report to myself on the Exec Board as our Geoenvironmental division remains part of Delta-Simons.  We are evolving the business structure as we grow and this is the next significant step on this journey.  I’m very much looking forward to working with Simon to support him and his team in implementing and achieving the targets”

Group Leadership Role Updates

We’re also pleased to announce appointments of Managing Director for Lucion Services, appointed to Jeremy Meredith, Amanda Simmons appointment to Lucion Group HR Director, and the position of Group Technical Director going to Kelvin Hughes. 

Alongside these newly created roles, two further members of the Senior Leadership Team are adapting their current roles to work across the Group:

• Nick Aspinall, Operations Director.
• Dave Cooper, Commercial Director. 

With their wealth of experience and success in operations and commercial delivery respectively, it is key to streamlining our services that Nick and Dave move to Group positions to support our subsidiary businesses. 

The intention of this strategic realignment of roles is to create a pool of shared services that operate across the Lucion Group. This will include HR, ESG, Technical Assurance, Bids, Marketing, Finance, NexGen, Operational Delivery and IT. These services are common to all our businesses within the group, so it makes sense to offer them as shared services.

Exec Team Role Updates

To support these shared services, our Exec Team has also had their roles readdressed. This has resulted in the natural progression of Alex Ferguson becoming Group Managing Director, following the successful acquisition and integration of Delta-Simons, where he was Managing Director for over six years. Alex is responsible for leading our company Managing Directors and Divisional Directors at Executive Board level, and for the overall commercial success of the Group. 

Alex is a Board Member of the Inogen Environmental Alliance of EHS&S Consultants, an Alliance of over 70 companies with a global presence, delivering projects in over 100 countries for a range of corporate, private and public clients.

Alex will be supported in his new role by our other members of the Exec team below;

• Ross Boulton, as Chief Technical Officer will be responsible for the following shared services: HR, IT, ESG, QHSE, Learning and Development, Legal Assurance and Acquisition Due Diligence. 
• Adam Mead, as Chief Operating Officer will oversee the shared services of Management Information and Data, NexGen, Laboratories, Centralised Operational Delivery, Faciliti es and Fleet. 
• Jamie McGivern as Chief Financial Officer will continue to oversee the Group Finances with the support of the soon to be appointed Group Finance Director. 

Explaining the need for these adjustments to the Group structure and individual responsibilities, Phil Rozier commented; 

“We have been in the fortunate position to make four successful business acquisitions since April 2021. This has led to the Group doubling in real terms of our community, client base and revenue streams. Such growth requires a core leadership team across the Group, with clear accountability lines. The structural clarity we are creating today is aligned with our 5 year strategy for 2022 - 2027, which will see continued growth.”

The Future Is Bright

Only four years ago, after 15 years of operation, Lucion was the 'only' market leader in asbestos consultancy services in the UK with 300 employees in the UK across 12 locations. Now Approaching our 20th year, Lucion Group has 25 UK locations and directly employs over 600 specialists, offering a wide range of professional environmental services. Lucion can now truly 'protect people and planet' - our singular purpose as a business.

Partner with an award-winning, secure supplier for your environmental services and get in touch with our team today by emailing info@deltasimons.com or call us on  +44 (0)1522 882 555

About The Author

With over 12 years of experience within Lucion in various commercial functions and in-depth knowledge of our market drivers and the changing landscape of client requirements, Lucy Clark has been pivotal to the growth and development of Lucion and its subsidiary companies. Lucy ensures that our Group strategy, branding and communications are aligned with our vision for sustainable growth. Lucy heads up our bids, marketing, internal communications and commercial contracts functions. 

Lucy Clark