THE MINISTRY of Defence, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and F1 teams including Renault and Red Bull are helping Woodstock-based property and construction consultancy Ridge expand.

The £52m-turnover firm, which offers project management, building and surveying advice for building and civil engineering projects, recently won three major government contracts.

These were with the Ministry of Defence, Crown Commercial Service and Education Funding Agency.

Other high-profile clients include Jaguar Land Rover, Ascot racecourse, M&S and Doha International airport.

Revenues have grown 15 per cent each year for the past three years and the number of staff at the Oxfordshire head office has risen by 25 per cent during the past year.

It now employs 200 here plus another 350 staff in nine offices around the UK and has an outpost in Shanghai.

Ridge, which marked its 70th anniversary last year, recently extended its base at converted cowshed The Cowyards in Blenheim Park.

Partner and marketing manager Mark Nieuwenhuys said: “It is a huge achievement for us because we are competing against other businesses who are internationals employing thousands or tens of thousands, of people.”

He added: “We are punching above our weight by getting these contracts.”

Teams are a mix of architects, surveyors, electrical, mechanical or civil engineers and major bids can take months to put together.

The MoD contract bid had to be delivered to eight separate locations around the UK and its series of responses to technical questions and case studies added up to 50,000 words.

The vote to leave the EU and Brexit talks have not held the business back, according to senior partner Adrian O’Hickey.

He believes this is due to spreading its work 50-50 between public and private sector and across many different industries.

It has project managed the construction of grandstands, factories and commercial zones for F1 teams and also overseen big projects in social and private housing, education, leisure, retail, rail, healthcare and manufacturing.

Mr O’Hickey, who joined the firm in 1986, said. “What has been done is done and we can’t affect the outcome of the EU vote.

“We have to be realistic that these threats are out there and the construction market is not the same as it was a year, or three years ago, so we have to come up with flexible solutions to minimise uncertainty.

“For instance, not only do we deliver nice, shiny buildings, we also provide services to maintain those buildings.

“What we do is provide the best and most flexible service we can.”