A consultancy firm from Stroud with 700 skilled staff on its books has been taken over.

Cheshire-based RSK Group Ltd, a major UK environmental, engineering and technical services consultancy, is the new owner of the Stonehouse-based operation.

As well as Biocensus, an ecological consultancy, RSK Group has also taken over Consents Solutions Ltd, a wayleave business.

In the 2018/2019 financial year, RSK has now acquired 12 businesses and expanded its workforce from about 2,000 staff to more than 3,000.

Biocensus announced its move into offices on Bond's Mill business park in Stonehouse in September last year, an expansion out of its main base in Bath.

The firm is described as "a leading ecological consultancy with a network of more than 700 highly skilled and experienced UK-based ecologists".

It works on a wide range of projects with a focus on large infrastructure developments.

It provides guidance and support on the development of biodiversity footprinting at the corporate strategic level and project-specific work such as surveys, ecological impact assessments, protected species surveys, mitigation measures and monitoring.

Consents Solutions Ltd has bases in Cambridge and King's Lynn, UK, and specialises in managing the complete consents process for utility and renewable installation processes, from route identification and feasibility studies through to landowner consent completion and infrastructure consent applications.

Consents Solutions counts several leading energy-sector businesses among its clients.

The new acquisitions are the first of this financial year by RSK.