Family-owned construction company Beard has appointed Distinctive on a retained basis to deliver an integrated PR campaign supporting its five regional offices across the South West, Hampshire and Surrey.

Specialising in supporting clients in place-making and the built environment, we will work closely with Beard’s directors and marketing colleagues to deliver strategic and impactful external communications activity.

It comes as Beard, whose head office is in Swindon, embarks on a programme of continued growth which saw the 350-employee business turn over £179m in 2023 and is on track for a record year in 2024.

Our founder and director, Ben Lowndes, said: “Through our work in Bristol and across the South West, it’s been clear to me for a long time that Beard is delivering impressive results during what has been a challenging period for the construction industry.

“We’ve enjoyed getting to understand the business and look forward to helping them build on their strong market presence to help them grow the business and attract the best people.”

Melissa Barber, Head of People and Communications for Beard, said: “Distinctive impressed us with their understanding of the construction industry and strong local connections, both within the sector and in the media.

“Their track record supporting clients in the built environment speaks for itself and we’re confident that they’ll do a great job in enhancing our brand, helping us to communicate effectively and tell our story.”

We also recently welcomed content writer Katie Witcombe to the team to support our campaign work for our built environment and purposeful clients.

With a background in content creation and social media in higher education and for a wildlife charity, Katie will focus on creating engaging, human focused content for clients including Underfall Yard Trust and Community of Purpose.

“I’m thrilled to have joined Distinctive at such an exciting time.” Katie said. “Ben and the team are doing fantastic work to raise the profile of clients in the South West, and deliver purposeful, people-led communications. I’m inspired by the stories our clients have to tell about their work and look forward to creating impactful content with them.”

We’ve also recently welcomed Harrison Costar to the team as a communications intern. In his final year studying Psychology at Swansea University, Harrison has experience supporting large-scale public consultation and stakeholder engagement projects in a previous internship. With sound public affairs knowledge and eager to learn the PR ropes, Harrison has already proven himself a valuable member of the team.