WH Scott & Son Engineers was founded in Belfast in 1897, later forming the WH Scott Group, an expanding group of companies with a shared goal of delivering exceptional customer service in highly technical, regulatory-driven markets which include lifting solutions, NDT & CMT testing and elevator re-roping and focusing on ensuring the safety of its customers and their stakeholders across the entirety of the UK and Ireland. For the group, the past 24 months have been the busiest period in WH Scott’s 128-year history, through the acquisition of five companies and the relocation into four new premises to support the group’s expansion. WH Scott Group now contains four main brands: WH Scott Engineers & Son; Re-Ropes; Metlab; and RHC Lifting.
The group is powered by private equity investors, Renatus Capital Partners, who purchased a majority stake in WH Scott Group in 2023. WH Scott Group has set its target on being the market leader throughout the lifting, inspection and safety industries. Prior to 2023, WH Scott Group consisted of WH Scott & Son Engineers and Re-Ropes.
WH Scott & Son Engineers delivers highly engineered lifting, rigging and material handling solutions across Ireland and the UK, with locations in Belfast, Dublin, Rathnew, Wexford and Plymouth. WH Scott & Son Engineers’ offers lifting solutions including design, fabrication, installation, planned maintenance and breakdown repair. As well as completing hundreds of thousands of inspections for water utilities, health boards, rail operators, defence contractors, and general industry to keep lifting equipment compliant within all relevant regulation and best practices.
With an in-house engineering design team and fabrication facilities in Wexford, WH Scott & Son Engineers is proud to be the only lifting company in Ireland certified to fabricate steel to the EN 1090 standard. This underlines the group’s engineering excellence and commitment to quality at every level.
Sizing up
WH Scott & Son Engineers outgrew their Dublin office and warehouse and moved into a new 21,000 sq ft property in August. This property offers a larger office space and a much bigger warehouse to support improved service and the growing needs of their customers and partners. This property will also be shared with Metlab to bring together shared resources.
Re-Ropes, based in London, provides a supply and fit roping service for the lift industry. The team provides a full turnkey service to ensure safe and efficient lift re-roping and associated maintenance activities. Next month, ReRopes will be moving into a 24,000 sq ft workshop in South London. Acquired by the group in 2015, Re-Ropes has experienced rapid growth in the past decade, and this new property will help facilitate further expansion, allowing for additional stock to be held, while offering a larger office space for the growing team. This new property will also become a base for WH Scott & Son Engineers and RHC Lifting to allow the group to expand operations across Greater London area and the UK.
The first of the latest series of acquisitions was Metlab in October 2023. Metlab is a renowned leader in non-destructive testing (NDT), construction materials testing (CMT) and accredited third-party certification of weld procedures and tests in steel and polymer products, with locations in Dublin and Cork.
In August 2025, Infrastruct Asset Management Services, based in County Laois, was acquired and merged into Metlab to expand its offering to include assessment and maintenance of critical infrastructure, including bridges, reservoirs, tunnels, turbines and other key assets.
In April 2024, the group acquired Hutcheon Examination Services, a prominent name in inspection and examination services within the engineering industry. This further strengthened WH Scott’s position as a comprehensive provider of lifting and engineering solutions, while enhancing its capabilities in inspection, testing and pressure system and LEV examination services across various industries in the south of England.
Expanding and growing
RHC Lifting, the group’s largest acquisition to date, was completed in October 2024 and marked a major step in WH Scott Group’s UK growth strategy. By combining RHC Lifting’s high-quality lifting solutions with a strong focus on safety, reliability and innovation, the group is now able to offer more comprehensive solutions to meet the needs of customers across a broader range of sectors.
The further acquisition of Premier Lifting in May 2025 and its merger into RHC Lifting, has seen RHC Lifting’s capability expanded to provide superior lifting equipment and safety products to its growing customer list.
In August, RHC Lifting relocated its Bristol head office and main workshop. The move provides additional space for the ever-growing office team and increases manufacturing and production capacity in the workshop. The new Wickwar workshops cover 38,800 sq ft – more than double the size of the former Stover Trading Estate building footprint and features a 10t goliath crane. Two 50m-long workshops provide ideal facilities for increased fabrication and assembly.
The adjacent 4,900 sq ft office building offers more room for the expanding team. Part of this space will be converted into a dedicated training room for SWF Krantechnik systems and Siemens PLC training, enhancing the skills and knowledge of WH Scott Group engineers.
Throughout this period, the WH Scott Group has strengthened its position by leveraging economies of scale and operational synergies. An early example of this approach was when WH Scott & Son Engineers relocated to larger 14,000 sq ft premises in Plymouth and combined operations with RHC Lifting, enabling them to share resources and provide a more comprehensive service to local customers.
Patrick Doyle, CEO of WH Scott Group, who is overseeing this expansion, said: “We are an ambitious group of companies; our target is to become the market leader in the lifting, inspection and safety industries in Ireland and the UK. With every project and job, we reinforce our commitment to safety, attention to detail and reliability – values that have defined us for over 128 years.”
Patrick added: “We have moved into over 102,000 sq ft of new properties this year, which was part of our long-term strategic plan. These new properties allow us to fulfil our current order books, but they also allow for the planned future expansion and to hit the target of doubledigit growth over the next three years.”
With this expansion, WH Scott Group has grown to over 280 employees across Ireland and the UK, and plans are in place to nearly double that number to 500 by 2027. Patrick notes that “finding more high-quality people has been the toughest challenge so far”. And the plan to overcome this is to “invest, train and retain our current team, whilst developing a strong apprenticeships programme to develop the correct engineers for the future”.
Looking ahead, WH Scott Group has ambitious plans to continue with growth and expansion through acquisition, organic growth and improved services, with a sole focus on becoming the leading provider in the UK and Ireland for lifting equipment, inspection and engineering services.
