Dan Leech CEO & Co-Founder

As Design 4 Structures (D4S) celebrates its tenth anniversary, CEO and Co-Founder Dan Leech reflects on the people, ideas and principles that have shaped the business over the last decade, and why the reason for starting D4S remains as relevant today as it was in 2016.

A few weeks ago, we held our annual Design 4 Structures BBQ, hosted as always by Jon Lock, his wife Valentina, and daughters Alice and Emily, who very kindly open their home to the entire team.

After what’s been a hugely busy period, the timing couldn’t have been better. It was a chance to get everyone together, catch up properly and enjoy each other’s company. Seeing colleagues, partners and families all in one place made me realise just how much the business has grown since we established the Design 4 Structures brand ten years ago.

What started with two people is today a business of more than 70, delivering projects across the UK and internationally. Jon still opens his home to everyone, and I don’t think there’s a better example of the kind of business we’ve tried to build.

What struck me most was the mix of people we have – there were conversations between colleagues who had joined us only a few weeks earlier and others who had been part of the business almost from the beginning. Graduates, experienced engineers, technicians and directors, all from different backgrounds and career paths, but sharing the same curiosity and desire to keep improving. Looking around, it was a reminder of just how much the business has evolved over the last decade.

Where It All Began

Although D4S celebrates its tenth anniversary this year, our story started before that.

While Jon and Elita were establishing the D4S brand in 2016, James and I were continuing to grow TDS Midlands, a business that started back in 1992. For seven years, the two businesses worked alongside each other before coming together under one name in 2023.

When I met Jon in 2015, there was an immediate connection. We shared the same frustrations with the industry and the same belief that engineering could be delivered differently. Projects were becoming increasingly fragmented, with more specialists, more interfaces and more opportunities for information to get lost between them. Every organisation was responsible for its own package, but too often nobody was looking at the bigger picture.

We felt clients deserved an engineering partner that would take responsibility beyond its own scope, helping to connect disciplines rather than simply contributing another package of work. That belief became one of the driving forces behind D4S.

A New Kind Of Consultancy

D4S was never about creating another engineering consultancy. It was about creating a business that approached project delivery differently; one that brought disciplines together instead of separating them, considered buildability from the earliest stages of design, and focused on helping clients deliver projects that were coordinated, practical and easier to construct. That philosophy still shapes the way we work today.

We don’t define ourselves by the sectors we work in; we define ourselves by the way we deliver. Whether we’re working on housing, healthcare, commercial developments, manufacturing, data centres or critical infrastructure, our objective remains the same: bringing together the right expertise, sharing better information earlier and helping clients deliver projects with greater certainty.

Ten years later, we’ve grown far beyond what we imagined in those early days, but the principles the business was founded on remain unchanged. Thanks to Jon for taking a leap of faith and leaving the world of global structural engineering to join an SME in leafy Shropshire. We’ve had an incredible journey together.

Ready For What’s Next

Over the last ten years, we’ve also built an exceptional leadership team. Their talent, judgement and commitment continue to shape the direction of D4S, and they give me every confidence in what comes next.

Finally, thank you to everyone who has been part of our first ten years, our people, our clients, our partners and our collaborators. You’ve all played a part in shaping D4S into the business it is today.

The business has changed enormously over the last decade. The reason we started it hasn’t. We still believe engineering is at its best when someone is prepared to look beyond their own discipline and take responsibility for helping the whole project succeed.