Our ethos

etch Associates are an independent, succession focused firm of consulting engineers and was founded by long time design collaborators David Behan, David Harris and Richard Turner.

With a passion for sustainability, technical excellence, innovation and design quality, our team is focused on delivering outstanding service to our clients and design partners and making etch the consultant of choice across a wide range of sectors.

The business is founded with the express aim of delivering low carbon design through technical excellence, innovation and close collaboration with equally passionate design partners. We feel that it is our responsibility, particularly within the midst of a climate crisis, to push the envelope with respect to design solutions

Our culture

David Behan, Founding Director of etch Associates

We have not been established to be the biggest firm in the UK, but our goal is to be the best. As such, we take great pride in what we do and work exceptionally hard to ensure a right first-time culture. This necessitates close collaboration with our design colleagues and open communication.

We pride ourselves on the ability to communicate in a straightforward and clear fashion to ensure that our proposals are understood and fully married to the aspirations of the Client’s team.

We believe that successful engagement is based on a collaborative, partnering approach implemented in an environment of co-operation, openness and mutual trust.

Construction projects are a collaborative endeavour undertaken by a wide range of participants with a differing ethos, approach and areas of expertise. One of the key challenges is bringing this broad range of skills and experience together for the ultimate benefit of the Client and wider user groups.

At etch, we understand that conducting ourselves in a pro-active and engaging way will contribute not only to a successful outcome for the project but is also likely to lead to the development of long-term relationships.

We embed this as a fundamental principle in our approach and this is reflected in our exceptionally high levels of repeat business and strong relationships.

From the top down we endeavour to conduct ourselves in a fashion that contributes to coherent and high performing teams. Adhering to our key values is essential for all our team.

David Harris - Founding Director of etch Associates

Striving for Innovation

Innovation must be done in the right way and that it must achieve buy-in from all parties

As an engineering consultant, innovation is a prerequisite for the job and is often one of the most satisfying areas of our day to day works. However, we also appreciate that innovation must be done in the right way and that it must achieve buy-in from all parties, have been robustly tested and challenged, and the pros and cons fully understood, particularly from a future maintenance perspective.

The wider team

etch supplement our services with experienced specialist sub-consultants. We have a select list of specialists who provide such services including BREEAM certification, vertical transportation, acoustics, fire, IT/ AV and below ground drainage. We only work with people/organisations we know, trust and with whom we have worked for many years.

Our sub-consultants are managed day to day in the same way as our direct employees. We review performance at our quarterly management meetings to ensure we are receiving a high-quality service.

Delivering net zero through engineering excellence, innovation and collaboration