June marks the end of a record year for Gateway

The firm conducted more valuations over the period than at any point in its history and although the housing market has slowed their share of business has grown substantially with volumes increasing by over 60% in the past 12 months.

The firm believes that its position as an independent supplier has enabled it to win a series of panel management contracts and that its strong experienced management team enabled it grow when other, more established businesses became victims of the credit crunch.

As a consequence of Gateway’s growth, its sister company Sonas has also continued to grow and has expanded the number of their in-house surveyors by 80%.

Marcus Radcliffe, managing director at Gateway said: “It has been an amazing past twelve months and although housing transactions have been well below the levels the market has enjoyed in the past, there has been a significant shift on quality rather than just quantity.

"It is sad that a number of firms and individuals have not had the financial depth to survive through what has been a challenging few years and although it is unfortunate to see so many good people leave our industry it does provide an inevitable boost for those firms that continue to invest in their proposition and grow their business.

"We have expanded our head office team to ensure that the service we provide our customers remains at the very highest level and we continue to grow our Sonas employed surveyor workforce across the country."