IN this week's SME Focus we hear from a consultancy that responded to the slowdown in construction activity that started in 2008 by increasing its presence in growth areas such as the renewable energy market.

Name: Duar Fleming.

Age: 36.

What is your business called?

EnviroCentre.

Where is it based? Glasgow.

What does it produce, what services does it offer?

Environmental consultancy services.

To whom does it sell?

Power companies, port and harbour operators, developers, waste management companies, local and central Government and other SMEs.

What is its turnover? £2.8m.

How many employees? 43.

When was it formed? 1995.

Why did you take the plunge?

The company is a spin-out formed by my father, Professor George Fleming, a former head of civil engineering at Strathclyde University. When he told me he was setting up the company and that there was an opportunity for me to work with him I was keen to get involved. The drivers behind good environmental management increased following the introduction of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the subsequent formation of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa).

Our business opportunity came as there was a shortage of consultancies focusing on environmental matters at that time. Our company was formed to service clients and promote good practice by linking academic knowledge and research with commercial and industrial demands.

What were you doing before you took the plunge?

An engineering apprenticeship with Gartsherrie Engineering in Coatbridge.

How did you raise the start-up funding?

Due to our affiliation with the university and organic growth plan, our start-up costs were fairly low. We did receive some Glasgow Development Agency funding which was matched by supportive local businesses.

What was your biggest break?

My biggest break came in May 2011 when I was elected to take on the role of managing director. As for the business, it's harder to single out a particular event that was a "game changer". I would say that the buoyancy of the renewables market and our ability to work in this sector has been vital to our company in recent years.

What was your worst moment?

Early 2008 was a very difficult time. Our main market was supporting the construction sector with large-scale projects such as Glasgow Harbour and the new Kirkintilloch Link road. With fewer of these major projects coming through we had to quickly rebalance the business and source work in other areas. Fortunately, we were able to deploy into renewables and the energy sector more generally. This has helped protect our business through the recession.

Since 2008, we've managed to stabilise the business by building up our energy portfolio from the toehold it was to the majority of our business today. The main focus was targeted business development. We started with the few companies that we'd already worked for and focused on widening our service offering to them. We also sourced references for work done and built it up from there; it's not been a quick or easy process. However, the energy business is a people-orientated, vibrant sector so there's lots of networking opportunities and people are receptive and engaging.

As well as targeted business development and networking, we also looked at our open tendering for public contracts and other work with lots of competition. We chose to be selective and not to play the percentages. This allowed us to concentrate on delivering quality bids and made sure we were best placed to do the work that we did win.

What do you most enjoy about running the business?

I enjoy linking people with objectives that solve problems. I'm also fortunate to be in a position that allows me to mix business development, technical projects and personnel management. I find that working across multiple areas helps keep things fresh.

What do you least enjoy?

The experience of having to shrink the business as our markets fell away was difficult. Closing offices and making staff redundant while attempting to hold the core of our team together was challenging. But we had always maintained a healthy working capital in the business so I always felt we would pull through as long as we made the right decisions.

What are your ambitions for the firm?

Our business is stable and is returning a small but steady profit each month. We plan to carefully grow our turnover to pre-recession levels.

This will allow us to capitalise on the better trading across our markets, including construction and housing development. In the run-up to our 20th anniversary I plan to raise our company profile and to re-establish ourselves as the top environmental consultancy in the country. In doing this we shall be pursuing industry awards and other accolades.

What are your top priorities?

Grow our business by investing in our staff and adding new resources; return our business to meaningful profit; continue to promote a positive organisational culture; capitalise on the economic recovery; form new strategic alliances with partners.

What could the Westminster and/or Scottish governments do that would help?

The introduction of meaningful taxation mechanisms which reward SME's who reinvest in their business growth. In addition to this, we hope to engage more actively with Scottish Development International (SDI) as we seek to expand our work in international markets.

What was the most valuable lesson that you learned?

As a service company it's easy to lose perspective and become led by external factors rather than driven through internal planning. You have to focus on your own business first. Only when your own business is healthy can you properly support other companies with their business objectives.

How do you relax?

Spending time with my family, golfing and cooking.