Amid industry challenges, Sauter Group’s newly rebranded Emtec Southern is driving sustainability
Comprising several companies, Emtec Group is a leading contractor in the building services sector, providing professional, quality, and cost-efficient building services throughout the UK. Majority shareholder The Sauter Group (Sauter) acquired the business in 2022, and one of the group’s key businesses, The T4 Group (T4 & React 4), has recently rebranded to become Emtec Southern and Emtec React respectively.
With the mechanical and electrical (M&E) sector facing pressure in recent years, T4 (now Emtec Southern) has navigated difficult times, including the Covid-19 pandemic, unprecedented inflation and project delays due to the new gateway process. Now under the new leadership of Managing Director Mike Broad, and Commercial Director Paul Dew, Emtec Southern is entering an era of shared success and future growth. Mike joins us to elaborate on the company’s recent rebranding and its ongoing operations.
“T4, now Emtec Southern, is a very interesting business that was originally set up in 2007 by four brothers who were plumbers and pipe fitters,” Mike opens. “The brothers grew the company to a turnover of a couple of million pounds, and from around 2013, the business started to pick up much larger projects, and an electrical division was established. The brothers grew the business to just over £33 million turnover pre-pandemic, but like many businesses working in the residential sector, T4 struggled during the pandemic restrictions.
“In 2023, T4 started a new company, React4, which focused on fire protection, offering sprinklers and smoke extract systems. Both T4 and React4 were acquired by Sauter in July 2023. 2024 was a year of tidying up the business after post-pandemic recovery and was also when I began my communications with Sauter as they were looking for a new Managing Director. I’d previously worked at Multiplex and had worked with Sauter on several projects. I was aware of the company but didn’t know much about their acquisitive path – they had acquired seven businesses in the last five years to propel their UK growth strategy.
“Sauter’s ambitions are to become one of the UK’s leading building services contractors, and they approached me about joining this great business in Surrey that needed new energy and direction. There’s a lot going on and I’m still very new in the business, but I’m fortunate to have worked with some amazing people over the years and have already brought in five new team members. We’ve also recently secured a nationally known figure in pre-construction. We’re building a fantastic team to target sizable and significant growth for not only Emtec Southern but also the wider UK Sauter Group companies – Sauter Automation, Emtec Group, Sirus, Wren Environmental and Electracom Projects.”
Rebranding ambitions
The rebrand of T4 into Emtec Southern was completed in early September. Mike explains the motivation and ambitions behind the rebranding. “With several companies under the Sauter umbrella, each entity can support one another and provide a greater holistic service to our customers,” he states. “It’s not about merging offices or reducing overheads but creating an end-to-end in-house service across the UK. The Sauter Group management style allows the regional businesses to maintain their original entrepreneurial spirit. This allows each business to form and grow, but now with the fiscal backing of a billion-euro organisation.
“One of the largest businesses acquired by Sauter was Emtec Group, a large M&E service contractor based in Scotland. As a well-recognised name in the industry, it made sense for us to include a reference to Emtec in our rebrand and new name,” Mike adds. “I regularly meet with the team in Scotland to leverage synergies and align our client bases. Aside from adopting a well-known name, the rebranding also enables us to create a strong geographic network across the UK. Emtec Group covers Scotland and as far South as Leeds, whereas Emtec Southern covers the Southern regions with an office in London and we’re aiming to open a Cambridge office in the next couple of years.
“The rebranding has invigorated and refreshed the entire T4 business while providing customers with a recognisable identity and service continuity. We’ve built an amazing client base over the last 15 years, and we want to continue working with these clients as well as attracting new customers from a diverse range of sectors including residential, commercial, hospitality, and data centres.
“Emtec Southern historically worked in the residential education sectors, and recent pressures on both the construction industry as a whole and specifically on the building services sector means there is a real lack of M&E contractors in the London and Southeast regions,” he continues. “With increased regulation, the industry is becoming much more demanding in terms of costs, design and labour. Further requirements, for example TM65 for products and fire stopping detailing, are requiring additional resources and are increasing costs on projects that are constantly being squeezed. Nevertheless, Emtec Southern is committed to providing its clients with a holistic service from commencement to completion, including sustainability, technologies, validation and documentation. 
“I’m also passionate about supporting the development of young people and bringing new people into the industry,” Mike adds. “There’s a severe skills shortage in the UK and we must develop a new generation of construction professionals. From technology to engineering, there are a plethora of roles available that provide people with great opportunities. Apprenticeships are key to the long term; however, we need to consider other sectors of industry and how people can be retrained to work in the construction industry.”
Sustainable solutions
When it comes to sustainability, the business strives to educate and support customers to adopt the right solutions for their project’s lifespan. “It’s important that our teams genuinely understand regulation and the impact of emerging technologies,” Mike states. “We’re getting involved with a project much earlier, preferably in the design stage, to make early decisions that not only enhance the sustainability of a project but also offer design and budget support. By passing our knowledge onto customers early in the process, we can outline how a more expensive cost upfront can be more economically viable in the longer-term, as well as providing more holistic sustainable benefits.”
Although Mike is new to Emtec, his experience in the industry and passion for people will inevitably result in continued success for the business, especially considering its recently refreshed brand identity. “For the remainder of 2025, we’re focusing on strengthening our internal systems; we’ve introduced a new IMS system, new estimating software, and we’re in the process of launching our upgraded accounting software,” he shares. “Aside from refining these systems, we’re in preparation mode for 2026, and we have some excellent upcoming opportunities with several clients. Also in 2026, React4 (Emtec React) is entering the commercial sprinkler market, which will be a huge win, as that market is in desperate need of competent sprinkler providers.
“In terms of further growth, we’ll aim to fully establish our new London office and get the Cambridge office set up. The wider Sauter Group is open to acquisitions that align with our growth ambitions. The largest European country for turnover in the wider Sauter Group is Germany, which turns over around €420 million, so one of my personal ambitions is to chase Germany by increasing our turnover, services, and capabilities.
“From a sustainability perspective, we’ll also look to add our own in-house prefabrication facility to specialise in the product of smart technology equipment,” Mike concludes. “We believe we can grow to around £80million-to-£100million turnover by 2030 just in the London and Southern area, but we’re most passionate about being known as a great company to work with and for, rather than just the biggest one.”