Why Petrie Buchanan?
Our purpose: to help our clients make better utility infrastructure decisions.
As independent utility consultants, we work alongside developers, housebuilders and infrastructure partners to provide technical and commercial expertise and coordinated utility strategies that make projects more efficient, more cost-effective and easier to deliver. Every client can expect honest advice, practical thinking and a team that they can trust to find the right solution for their project - not simply the easiest one.
Our Story
Founded in 2000, Petrie Buchanan was the first consultancy in the UK to procure and manage an independent gas transportation (IGT) network – effectively ending British Gas’s UK monopoly position. In 2005, we applied the same approach to deliver one of the UK’s first fully operational independent distribution network owner (IDNO) electricity networks.
More than two decades on, we’ve delivered over 1,000 projects and supported housing developments, schools and commercial projects with a combined development value of over £10bn – bringing the same independent, commercially led approach to every project, from community heating systems to water, wastewater and telecoms.
Why Independent Matters
As independent utility consultants, we help clients make informed decisions based on what’s right for their project – not what’s easiest for others.
It’s a common assumption that appointing an Independent Connection Provider (ICP) covers independent advice too – but an ICP’s role is to design and deliver connection works that comply with utility provider requirements, not to represent your commercial interests.
We do things differently. We’re not tied to delivering a specific connection or network – we’re appointed to find the right one. That means genuinely independent advice on cost, programme and procurement, from a partner whose only interest is your project’s outcome.
- Independent advice: we represent the client, not the utility provider or contractor.
- Specialist focus: utility infrastructure is our core discipline, not one service among many.
- One point of coordination: we manage every utility on a project, so clients don’t have to.
- Access to senior expertise: clients work directly with experienced specialists.
- Industry relationships: long-standing relationships with DNOs, IDNOs, utility providers and local authorities help move approvals forward.
- Group backing: the wider engineering and sustainability capability of the Wallace Whittle Group.
Accreditations
Our designs meet WIRS, NERS and GIRS industry standards, accredited via LRQA (formerly Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance), giving clients confidence that every connection and network design meets the requirements of asset owners across the UK.
Values
We act in our clients’ best interests, providing independent advice and building long-term relationships based on trust.
By remaining independent, we help clients make informed decisions based on what’s right for their project – not what’s easiest for others.
We take responsibility for helping projects succeed, proactively identifying issues before they become problems.
We make utility infrastructure easier to understand, manage and deliver.
The industry is changing. We continually develop our knowledge, embrace change and look for better ways to deliver value.
Who do we work with?
While our core focus is housing, mixed-use and commercial development, our experience extends much further including the Public Sector, Utility Providers, Contractors, Architects and Planning Consultants.
Part of the Wallace Whittle Group
Petrie Buchanan is part of the Wallace Whittle Group – a UK-wide, independent MEP and sustainability engineering consultancy. That means clients working with either business can draw on wider technical capability, without losing the independent, specialist advice Petrie Buchanan is built on.
