2016 is issuing in a New Year in more ways than one at DM Hall, one of the leading Scottish Chartered Surveyors, as the firm builds on the previous year of growth with a raft of innovative measures to maintain and increase its upwards trajectory.

The firm, which has offices the length and breadth of Scotland, enjoyed an excellent year in 2015 and is now implementing a programme which will consolidate recent gains and catalyse growth “for all the right reasons”.

Core to the expansion strategy will be a substantial seven-figure investment in IT and management infrastructure to future-proof the firm with cohesive, connective management tools to provide clients with a truly 21st century service.

It will be backed with a major re-branding campaign which will see DM Hall’s front-of house image radically updated and re-invigorated to reflect the aims and ambitions of a forward-thinking, modern and dynamic organisation.

The coming year will also see a focus on the firm’s sector-leading graduate programme, enhanced growth in the commercial property, building surveying and property services departments and a clear-sighted determination on succession planning.

Eric Curran, managing partner of DM Hall said: “2016 will be a very important year for the firm, and we are entering into this exciting new expansionary phase in good shape and in good heart.

“Most importantly, we are expanding for all the right reasons, and going in the right direction to ensure that we stay ahead of our clients’ expectations and continue to provide a service of outstanding quality.”

DM Hall, which has 25 partners and 230 staff, will invest heavily in “out of the box” IT solutions which will give the firm substantially greater control over its systems and processes as well as creating greater clarity and transparency.

The flexibility of its new infrastructure will allow client tracking of reports as well as remote access of information, elimination of duplication of effort, simplification of file storage and retrieval and facilitation of self-audit within the firm.

The rebranding will emphasise the firm’s commitment to fast-moving technology and digital provision for clients who have become accustomed to easily-accessible and immediately relevant information on a variety of electronic devices rather than paper-based reports.

On succession, Mr Curran said: “Over the year we will be actively identifying the right people who, in the fullness of time, will be ready to take the firm on to future successes and, as the current management is doing, create a legacy for the next generation.

“As well as promoting a succession layer into place, we will also be concentrating on the entry level by nurturing and enhancing our graduate intake, which was a healthy 17 last year and will be boosted to in the region of 20 graduates a year over the next three-to-five years.

“The firm’s focus will remain on graduate training, which has proved to be an admirable means of fostering the DM Hall ethos, rather than lateral transfers, which have the potential to cause issues over skill sets and integration.”

The 2016 innovations follow a major restructuring last year of the East Commercial department and a similar focus will now be applied to the rest of the Commercial department, which has made eight new appointments over the year.

The target is to increase the current 32% share of the Commercial department to 40%, and also to increase market share in building surveying and property services. These increases will come in addition to, rather than instead of, growth in the firm’s core residential business.

Mr Curran said: “DM Hall’s primary aim has always been to stay in front of technological, commercial and societal change in order to anticipate and protect the interests of our clients. 2016 will prove to be another milestone on that journey.”