Director’s Statement 2026

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Securing your path to connection

We launched this is as our brand strapline in 2025 because it neatly sums up the service we provide for our clients. That ‘path’, with its pitfalls, risks, stakeholders and landowners can make or break any development, because if power isn’t secured, it won’t go ahead.

The routes we take to secure that path have always driven the evolution of CLM. But now more than ever and alongside our customer and industry insight, they’re playing a key role in defining our strategic growth plans for this year and beyond.

 

Laying out our stall

We’re starting 2026 with redraft of our purpose and vision.  Why we do what we do:

  • Our purpose

To deliver fast, accurate, and legally robust land rights solutions that enable utility companies and developers to deliver critical infrastructure efficiently and compliantly

  • Our vision

To become the UK’s leading independent specialist in land rights and consent management for utilities, recognised for expertise, service quality, and a commitment to employee wellbeing.

I’m serious about these statements and would like to take this opportunity to remind you of the benefits you can enjoy by working with us as a completely independent landrights services provider. We’re sector specialists, we work across all DNO regions, we’re able to support on both IDNO and DNO agreements and we can tailor our services to suit individual ICP/CPO requirements. All in all, our Purpose and Vision statements have been written because they’re true to who we are. They wholly reflect the service we currently deliver and provide a clear ambition for what we’re striving to achieve.

 

Stand out success

Through listening to our customers and identifying how we can better tailor our services to meet specific needs, we’ve developed a suite of standalone packages. More will come on this in 2026 with early elements shown on the ‘Our Services’ page of our lovely new website, but a tremendous success story is our Landrights Investigation service.

We’ve seen a phenomenal level of uptake in this package. Developers, CPOs, networks and ICPs are wanting our experienced team to give their projects a ‘once over’ before committing to a route or project delivery timescale. Identifying risks is more important than ever and as a result, our service is saving our clients money as well as increasing their understanding of the intricacies surrounding the landrights process.

The success of this service, along with the dedication of the entire CLM team and our wonderful clients who continue to use our expertise and recommend us to others, has meant we’ve achieved our financial targets for 2025. In my Statement last year I referred to our set figures as ‘bold’, but we did it, so thank you for your support.

 

Focussing on our customers

You are our world. So much so, we’re looking at a new marketing campaign for 2026 which will focus entirely on you. We’ll be investing further in CLM Live – we simply haven’t looked back since we launched the platform last Spring, and across 2026 we’ll be phasing out our manual reporting altogether.

We’ll also be keeping a keen eye on the training and support we provide for our clients. We know the landrights industry is a world unto itself and we see it as our responsibility to help you navigate your way. And as part of this, I’d like to host a ‘Developer Day’. (Please let me know if this is something you’d like to work with us on.)

 

Moving forward

Over the next three to five years, we plan to increase our market share across the UK, strengthening strategic partnerships with utility companies and ICPs, and investing further in technologies which streamline the landrights acquisition process.

We’re also in the final stages of our Achilles certification. This will open us up to working directly with public sector bodies and DNOs – an exciting route to take and one which will undoubtedly be full of opportunity.

 

Our team

None of the above would be possible without the CLM team. Each and every member has worked with the utmost commitment and professionalism over the past 12 months and it’s a pleasure to work alongside them.

A few key changes over the past year have included establishing a formal Senior Management Team. This is made up of Aileen Paterson, Chris Neville and Mike Beckwith, with of course Hamish and myself as Directors. The SMT has been set up to help better manage the business, not only in its day to day running, but also to provide a forum for scope and discussion around how we move forward and retain our position as industry innovators and leaders.

Moving into 2026, we’ll be extending our Ketton office to improve cross-team collaboration – which of course includes celebrating one team member’s upcoming 10th ‘work-versary’, a team baby and a wedding!

 

And to end on a high…

Here are a few highlights which are definitely worth shouting about:

  • We were contracted by one of the big five water companies to support the AMP 8 electrical upgrade of sites – involving administering the review of power requirements for approx. 3000 sites over the next five years
  • We were ‘Highly Commended’ in the Inspiring Women in Construction and Engineering Awards
  • We were finalists in the Construction News Specialists Awards
  • We were also finalists in the Great British Workplace Wellbeing Awards
  • Our client Instavolt has won three industry awards for its Winchester Superhub ultra rapid charging station
  • And I was named Professional Services Leader of the Year in the East Midlands Business Leadership Awards.

Thank you once again for your valued custom, here’s to a powerful 2026.

Laura Wilson

Director

 

How we communicate

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We recently launched our new customer platform – CLM Live, and with it, brought a whole new perspective to how we communicate. Our lead coordinator Chris Neville project managed its development and launch, so to get to know how it works, we asked him a few questions.

Why CLM Live was developed? 

CLM Live was born from an idea about giving full visibility to all clients on their projects, providing them with information which was immediately available.

How did you determine what information it should contain? 

It’s based on the information we track internally, set as key milestones. Each is a key point in the lifecycle of a legal agreement, so lets the customer to know exactly where legals are up to and what steps there are left before completion

Who devised the navigation for it? 

Simplicity was key. We didn’t want people to have to go into a menu, then sub menus galore. We wanted a home page and then a separate screen for each agreement which displayed everything. The easier it is to use, the more effective it will be.

What sort of comments have you received from customers who have tested it, or tried it since launch? 

So far, the feedback has been extremely positive. With customers commenting on how it should make their lives even easier going forward.

Do you think this will replace other forms of communication – or reduce the need for them maybe?

I think it will enhance how we communicate, rather than replace anything we currently do. There’s a place for lots of different communication methods and we value the time we spend talking to clients. CLM Live is more about making it easier to access information about vital project updates.

What key benefits do you think CLM Live will bring for CLM and for your customers? 

Mainly in enabling instant access to information and full visibility of the legal process.

Are you considering further scope for CLM Live in the future – as an app maybe? 

There are plenty of ideas we have in mind for future builds, such as allowing clients to run off reports and potentially syncing in the financial side to a project, allowing for better budget tracking for our clients.

If you’d like to find out more about CLM Live, drop the team an email at [email protected]

What does good communication look like?

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It’s human nature for us to criticise others for poor communication, but if you sat down and thought about it, what would your wish list for good communication look like?

Maybe it’s about ensuring you’re given all available information – the good, the bad and the ugly?

Maybe it’s expecting the person or company who’s providing the information to filter out what you don’t need or want to know, demonstrating their understanding of your role in a situation?

Maybe it’s about the format the information is provided in – but does the sender know you’d prefer a phone call rather than an email; or an email is better than a letter?

Or maybe you have different expectations for different circumstances?

It’s not straightforward is it.

I think good communication is about knowing your audience. In a previous article I talked about who we communicate with, and it’s so critically important for us to understand this. We can’t assume everyone we work with understands every aspect of our work – why should they? We’re there as the landrights services provider and it’s up to us to manage the information for them and communicate as we see fit.

In our recent video post on LinkedIn, Landrights Manager Aileen Paterson talked about ‘need to know’ and ‘nice to know’ in terms of the information we communicate to a client. Any professional services provider who doesn’t proactively communicate the ‘need to know’, isn’t doing their job properly, but the difference really comes into its own when you’ve chosen to communicate the ‘nice to know’ information.

As Aileen explained, we know our audiences. We know what their understanding of the landrights process is and the level to which they want to get involved. We will always ensure they have the ‘need to know’ information, but for the ‘nice to know’, we’ll cherry pick. We know who prefers email updates on a Friday afternoon; who wants a catch up on Teams on a Monday to talk through the week ahead; who wants bullet points on a text; and who would rather meet up in person once a month for a cup of coffee to talk through all the ins and outs of their projects. For me, that’s what good communication looks like.

Who do we communicate with?

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Every day we alter our communication style to suit who we’re talking to. This might be dependent on the relationship we have with that person, the setting we’re in, the other person’s age (if they’re a child for example), or the level of understanding we perceive that person has. This adaptation is second nature for most people, but where it gets clever, is when we take time to understand who those people are and work out what the best way is to communicate with them, to achieve a desired outcome.

This is key in landrights.

We recently started a project at CLM exploring who our stakeholders are, what their influence or impact on our business might be and analysed the way in which we currently communicate with them. This really got us thinking, because while an adaptation of our communication style does tend to come naturally, once you lift the lid on this and consider how our stakeholders might receive or understand what you’re telling them, you soon realise there could be a better way of doing things.

Take a ‘typical’ landrights project. The ‘who’ might include an ICP, an IGT, a DNO, an IDNO*, a Developer, an end user, a Main Contractor, a Local Authority, various statutory consultees, private landowners and even community groups.  That’s a very diverse collection of organisations and individuals. Some we may just need to keep informed, while others could be critical to the successful completion of the project.

To a certain extent, the communication with some of these organisations is formulaic and often process-driven or regulated. Though I do firmly believe in pairing up the right members of my team with these parties to build rapport, because it always delivers a stronger result. Where we can improve further in this area though, is appreciating that even though we’re working with organisations in a professional capacity, they may not understand the landrights process – so by getting to know ‘who’ we’re talking to, we can tailor our communication style to suit.

At the other end of the scale, private landowners can present an enormous risk to a successful connection. Not everyone is interested in financial gain or compensation and there may be other factors at play which will determine whether they want to engage with you. Understanding ‘who’ these people are, what’s important to them and demonstrating genuine respect is crucially important.  And, while acting in the best interests of our clients, is something which thoroughly puts the communication skills of the CLM team to the test.

*DNO – Distribution Network Operator

IDNO – Independent Distribution Network Operator

ICP – Independent Connections Provider

IGT – Independent Gas Transporter

Why CLM is underpinned by communication

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As a landrights services provider, what we do doesn’t readily roll off the tongue – it’s functional but essential for securing network connections. And when you’ve worked in this sector for a few years, you get to know what winds people up and can also clearly see where opportunities lie for offering something different.

I founded CLM 11 years ago because I discovered a market niche. A gap for a unique service which provided a specialist accompaniment to using solicitors or inhouse legal departments. The key element underpinning this spark of an idea, was proactive communication.

I was asked at an event last week by a Main Contractor if they could contact CLM directly to get an update on legals. I answered yes, but caveated that by reminding the room that we’re not solicitors and so our work isn’t legally privileged. We talk to whoever we need to, but also that we don’t just provide legal updates, instead we look at a much wider picture, on delivery, overcoming hurdles and identifying who is responsible for sorting any outstanding elements.

The thing with securing the path for a network connection is there are usually a lot of people involved. DNOs, IDNOs, ICPs, IGTs, (I’ll include an acronym list at the end of this article) end users, developers, investors, private landowners, statutory consultees. If the concerns, questions, resolutions, timescales, risks, challenges, etc., aren’t communicated proactively with the right parties, then entire development programmes can be severely delayed, or grind to a halt.

If people know what’s going on and are kept informed not just when they need to be, but whenever there’s new information, or even just checking in, then the whole process works a whole lot better.

In addition to proactive communications though, is understanding what it takes to be a good communicator. It’s a skill to be able to tune in to the who, what, how, where and when of communication. This is something which I’m always working to educate myself on, and actively encourage the CLM team to develop their intuition too. To do this effectively we need to not only be fully proficient in the service we provide, but also have an indepth understanding of our customers – appreciating their level of knowledge, their wants and needs for information and the ways in which we engage with them to improve their experience.

Communications is complicated, but extraordinarily effective when it’s well managed. CLM is underpinned by communications because if it wasn’t we couldn’t work in the way our clients appreciate and we wouldn’t have a business to celebrate.

Over the next few months, CLM is going to get thoroughly under the skin of communications and its importance in our industry. I invite you to join us for the journey and provide us with any feedback you have.

Laura Wilson, Director, CLM

*****

*DNO – Distribution Network Operator

IDNO – Independent Distribution Network Operator

ICP – Independent Connections Provider

IGT – Independent Gas Transporter

Director’s Statement 2025

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We’re now officially into our second decade. I don’t think anyone who knows us could possibly have escaped our 10-year anniversary celebrations last year – and I make no apology for that. I’m proud of what CLM has achieved; I’m incredibly proud of our team and I feel I honoured that so many respected companies and industry contacts choose to work with CLM as their landrights services provider – so our celebrations were well deserved.

On a more serious note though, one of the attributes of CLM which has driven this success, is our desire for constant improvement and evolution. So, as we embark on a new year, you won’t be surprised to hear we have plenty in store.

 

Improving communication

Many of our clients are kind enough to commend us on our communication – but there is always scope to improve. Across 2025 we’ll be rolling out a number of projects with this in mind:

·       The launch of a new, purpose-built customer portal. This will be an exclusive cloud based platform which will enable the ICP and/or adopting networks to see where a project is at, monitor progress, track key milestones and have access to information when they need it

·       The development of our customer journey. Our customer requirements can vary considerably and to best serve individual needs we want to clearly understand what support and positive impact we can provide from contract to completion. We’ll be running workshops later in the Spring with the CLM team and will of course be asking for customer input too

·       We’ll be investing in strategic external marketing and communications for the first time. A big step forward for us, but we have a lot of knowledge across our team and we want to share it with others, helping the industry to get to grips with everything there is to know about the landrights sector.

 

The journey to net zero

I’m pleased to see the UK’s priorities for achieving net zero haven’t changed with the new Government. So, our role in supporting our customers remains strong – though I will use this opportunity to issue a reminder about the improvements we identified for EV landrights, which have sped up the process immeasurably for so many of our customers.

I also wanted to comment on how the journey to net-zero is changing the landscape as we know it, or knew it, for the electrical sector. There is a definite shift in the nature of roles and career opportunities out there now and with this, is the expectation of how companies should be looking to develop their staff – something which I am personally very passionate about.

 

Employee engagement

And on the subject of employee development, our continued investment in the team at CLM remains my highest priority. Our four-day week is now part of the furniture, and over the past year we’ve dedicated time to mental health awareness, wellbeing days and on how retain an atmosphere amongst the team which reflects how they want to work. In 2025, we’ll take this further with our ‘25 in 25’ Wellbeing Strategy. This initiative will deliver 25 impactful programmes aligned with our Four Pillars of Wellbeing, promoting health, happiness, and balance for every team member.

 

Financial performance

A huge thank you goes to all our team members for the hard work they put in to help us achieve our 23/24 target ahead of schedule. However, that means we’ve set ourselves some bold growth targets for 24/25, but with such a strong team in play, I know we can achieve this.

 

Working with our customers

I’ve already touched on how we’re working to improve our customer communications in terms of our new portal and our customer journey, but we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you. So, I wanted to make of point of saying, please continue to provide us with feedback, tell us how we’re doing, what we could do better etc, because we really want to be the best we can be.

 

2024 highlights

Before I sign off, I need to shout about some achievements which we’ve celebrated at CLM this year:

·       We’ve been crowned the Peterborough Business Awards, Small Business of the Year 2024 and I’ve recently been shortlisted as a Finalist in The BusinessDesk.com’s East Midlands’ Leadership Awards – winners are to be announced in March

·       Amongst our significant completions for the year were: the bp pulse GigahubTM at Birmingham’s NEC Campus; Merseyside Fire & Rescue Authority’s new state of the art training facility; AFC Bournemouth’s new training facility; and ARK data centre’s Longcross Park.

·       And from our team: Nicky has seamlessly transitioned within the business from office to home-based working; Chris has developed a training presentation to introduce ICPs to landrights and the support CLM can provide; We’ve trained more MHFAs this year; Kat has successfully trained two new admin starters and transitioned two existing team members to trainee PCs. Overall, an excellent picture of how CLM has performed.

 

And I think that’s about it.

Thank you once again for your valued custom. We look forward to continuing our relationship with you.

Happy 2025,

Laura Wilson

Director

The Grain Store
63 High Street
Ketton
Stamford
PE9 3TE

Call: 01780 755 355

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