{"id":850246,"date":"2025-05-22T09:11:45","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T14:11:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/22\/united-living-strengthens-water-business-with-civils-acquisition\/"},"modified":"2025-05-22T09:11:45","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T14:11:45","slug":"united-living-strengthens-water-business-with-civils-acquisition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/22\/united-living-strengthens-water-business-with-civils-acquisition\/","title":{"rendered":"United Living strengthens water business with civils acquisition"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

United Living has acquired family-run civils firm Peter Duffy Ltd as it seeks to consolidate its position as a major player in water infrastructure.<\/p>\n

The Wakefield-based water specialist will become part of United Living\u2019s infrastructure services division.<\/p>\n

Peter Duffy generated a pre-tax profit of \u00a3755,200 from turnover of \u00a322.4m in its most recent accounts for the year to 31 March 2024.<\/p>\n

While turnover was down from \u00a325.5m the year before, the firm returned to profitability after posting a \u00a31.5m loss in 2023.<\/p>\n

The company had total net assets of \u00a319.6m and employed a monthly average of 135 staff with an annual wage bill of \u00a36.8m.<\/p>\n

In the accounts, managing director Peter Duffy said the firm had secured orders \u201cbeyond 2025\u201d.<\/p>\n

United Living\u2019s latest purchase follows its acquisition in April 2024 of engineering services firm EcoGenR8 \u2013 trading as AFECO \u2013 which operates in the water, marine and energy sectors.<\/p>\n

United Living said the deals for AFECO and Peter Duffy \u201csignificantly strengthen\u201d its capabilities, as well as its capacity to support water and sewerage companies with \u201ccritical wastewater infrastructure solutions\u201d.<\/p>\n

In May 2023, United Living itself was bought by US private equity firm Apollo Global Management<\/a>, after which it released funds for acquisitions as part of a diversification strategy to move the company beyond its previous focus on housebuilding and property services.<\/p>\n

Last year it also snapped up training specialist GTEC and heat pump system design app Heatly, as well as PiLON, a social housing property services firm operating across London, the South East and Midlands.<\/p>\n

This was followed by the purchase of acquired power distribution and street lighting specialist Jones Lighting<\/a>\u00a0in March this year.<\/p>\n

Hinting at further strategic acquisitions in its most recent accounts, United Living noted \u201cmany growth opportunities<\/a>\u201d in the infrastructure sector due to network upgrades, AMP8 in the water sector and the new infrastructure required for carbon capture, utilisation and storage.<\/p>\n

The contractor reached 38th<\/sup> place in last year\u2019s CN100<\/a> table based on its 2023 turnover of \u00a3534.2m and a pre-tax loss of \u00a33.9m.<\/p>\n

Since then, its position has strengthened, with its most recent accounts for the year to 31 March 2024 showing turnover up at \u00a3627.2m and a pre-tax loss of \u00a32.4m.<\/p>\n

Neil Armstrong, chair and chief executive of the United Living Group, said the acquisition of Peter Duffy represented a milestone in the group\u2019s strategy to become a market leader in wastewater infrastructure.<\/p>\n

The sector was entering a period of transformational growth, driven by environmental, political, and regulatory pressures, as well as long-standing underinvestment, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe UK water market is preparing for a substantial upturn in investment as it enters the next regulatory period, AMP8, during this year,\u201d Armstrong said.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnited Living\u2019s continued investment in wastewater services reflects its commitment to the challenges and opportunities ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peter Duffy said the move was also timely for his firm.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this critical time for the water sector, with increasing demand for reputable service providers, being part of the United Living Group presents an exciting opportunity to further develop Peter Duffy Ltd\u2019s strong brand and service offering,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>
\n Kerry Lorimer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

United Living has acquired family-run civils firm Peter Duffy Ltd as it seeks to consolidate its position as a major player in water infrastructure. The Wakefield-based water specialist will become part of United Living\u2019s infrastructure services division. Peter Duffy generated a pre-tax profit of \u00a3755,200 from turnover of \u00a322.4m in its most recent accounts for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":850247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1796,2620],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-850246","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-living","8":"category-united"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=850246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/850247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=850246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=850246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=850246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}