You may not have heard of Cardo, but that’s about to change. The group, founded by Liam Bevan and Jane Nelson in 2023, is already one of the biggest providers of sector-leading property maintenance and retrofit solutions for social housing in England and Wales and has big plans for the future.
Established in 2023 by its platform company, LCB Group, which was set up by Liam over a decade earlier, Cardo has achieved significant growth over the past year, and is set to continue at a pace with a model focused on offering high quality local delivery, with a national scale.
Following the acquisition of Jefferies Contractors in the Midlands and South-based Osborne Property Services, now Cardo (South), the group recently solidified its position as the largest building maintenance contractor in Wales after welcoming Cardiff-based building refurbishment and decorating specialist, A&N Lewis, into the fold last month.
Today, Cardo is a £150m-plus company with over 800 staff, most of whom are operating on the ground in people’s homes and communities. Their strategy is to bring together like-minded and socially driven people to support social housing in a sustainable way, as trusted partners who understand an incredibly difficult operating environment.
“Our focus is to provide the highest quality services and customer care, whilst being authentic, accountable and transparent,” explains Liam Bevan.
Assessing the market, he acknowledges there are long-term challenges, including skills shortages and supply chain pressures, against a backdrop of landlords coming under increasing pressure to reform how they deliver frontline services. “There are mounting pressures from every angle. Landlords are having to become more creative where they channel funds,” he added. “It needs some fresh thinking, and it’s very easy for conversations to drift into what can’t be done within a budget and not what can be done.”
Cardo hopes to disrupt how property services operate across the sector with a fresh approach that refocuses on the experience of tenants. “We are not just asset managers; we have boots on the ground – hundreds of skilled tradespeople and their support staff – building relationships with tenants as we carry out the work,” adds Liam.
Not easy to achieve in a volatile climate. “We have grown quickly, but that’s because we have a clear vison of what is needed having worked in the sector for so long. We’ve maintained a sustainable model that keeps us connected to our core values – almost all of our senior team started on the tools, so we know what it means to work in people’s homes. That’s why we are different and why we believe we’ve seen such positive results.”
And it’s not only Cardo’s partners and customers who have benefitted – staff have also gained. “Working at Cardo is different from other contractors,” says Jane. “We offer plenty of opportunities for progression. Some of our leadership team have worked their way up from trade apprentices to the boardroom and that includes Liam and me, so we get it. We’re growing as a business and want to work with people who share our values and will grow with us.”
As Cardo looks set to become one of the biggest property maintenance groups in the social housing sector, they are determined to keep their feet on the ground whilst remaining focused on the bigger picture. Bevan sums it up: “By providing the highest quality service for our customers, their tenants and all those we work with, we believe our model gets the balance right between ambition, sustainability and long-term success.”
Find out more about Cardo at www.cardogroup.co.uk.