We sit down with James Doyle, Managing Director of Endeavor Group, a building safety specialist and training provider that supports business owners responsible for some of the UK’s most complex and dangerous buildings.
Based in the North West and operating nationally, Endeavor Group brings evidence-led engineering discipline to the built environment as regulatory scrutiny continues to increase.
With more than two decades of experience spanning offshore oil and gas, process safety and fire engineering, Doyle applies the industry’s most hazardous methods to residential and commercial environments, helping organizations meet the requirements of the Construction Safety Act with a clear understanding of their responsibilities.
His team works with clients to strengthen building security through proactive inspections, security case support and accredited training. As a ProQual accredited training center since 2018, the business delivers nationally recognized qualifications across fire safety, passive fire protection and health and safety, and is currently launching three new Fire Risk Assessment qualifications at Level 3, 4 and 5.
Alongside its UK work, Endeavor has delivered UK standard training globally through remote delivery for several years. More recently, this has developed into direct discussions with overseas organizations, including an engagement in Dubai, seeking to better understand how skills, evidence and decision-making translate into living, habitable buildings.
In this interview, Doyle discusses the challenges employers face under the Construction Safety Act, why evidence-based rigor is important, and the principles that guide decision-making in a high-stakes sector.
What is the biggest problem you solve for your customers?
One major problem our clients face is the lack of reliable information at a time when expectations for project managers have never been higher.
The Building Safety Act has changed the regulatory landscape, however many inspections across the UK are still carried out through visual surveys or template reports that do not meet the standard of evidence required by the law. That gap creates legal, financial and operational risk.
At Endeavor Group, our role is to provide clients with a clear picture. We carry out disruptive classification surveys, fire risk assessments, building risk reviews, safety case reports, supporting resident involvement, corrective action planning and ongoing compliance monitoring, all supported by photographic evidence, operational rationale and systematic thinking. All findings are linked to the objective of the fire strategy and the formal definition of the relevant element so that there is no confusion about what the problem is or why it is important.
Through our partnership with Riskflag, we also support clients with a digital gold chain that organizes their evidence, actions and decision-making in a readable manner. When people work with us, they gain confidence and a path to compliance.
What made you start your business?
Endeavor Group started in 2018 after more than two decades working in offshore oil and gas, process safety and fire engineering. In high-risk areas, the quality of testing, intervention and strength of evidence are not optional. You quickly learn that affirmations mean nothing if they are not backed up by facts.
As I moved further into the built environment, I saw a growing gap between what the law would ultimately demand and what was being brought down. Most of the reports were not disturbing. Many conclusions were based on assumptions rather than evidence. Building management organizations were making critical decisions without the technical understanding to properly identify risks.
I created Endeavor because the industry needs a professional who uses the engineering discipline, communicates clearly and presents analysis that can withstand legal and regulatory challenge. What began as a specialist consultancy has grown into a national capability supporting senior, supported accommodation, student accommodation, retail, commercial, education and transport.
What are your product prices?
For us, competence, transparency and integrity are not sales goals. They are the foundations of how we work.
Competence means having the technical depth to interpret fire strategy, identify strategic flaws, challenge assumptions and build evidence to support decisive action. Clarity means presenting findings in a way that project managers, residents, and administrators can understand without ambiguity. Integrity means reporting what the evidence shows rather than what people hope to hear.
These values guide how we approach every survey, every security situation and every advice we give.
Do your values define your decision-making process?
Yes, absolutely. We always ask ourselves: can this stand up to regulatory, official or third-party scrutiny? If the answer is no, we refine it.
Through years of working with the regulator we understand their role in asking the ‘what if’ question, and we ensure that our reports fully satisfy this requirement with appropriate mitigation. We examine our findings and their failure modes from a maritime safety approach, ensuring that all conclusions are traced back to accountability.
The same standard applies to our training center, where proven discipline underpins everything we deliver.
Is team culture important to your business?
It is important. Our team is our strength.
The work we do includes senior living, student living, supported living, care facilities, commercial and educational settings. Each brings its own challenges, and our ability to deliver depends on a culture built on openness, technical curiosity and shared accountability.
That collaborative approach also underpins our international discussions, where the emphasis is on sharing knowledge and understanding how common challenges are handled in different workplaces.
In terms of your messages, are you communicating clearly with your audience?
Transparency is central to everything we do. Building security is technical, but communication shouldn’t be.
Our reports describe the issue, the evidence, the risk and the action required in clear language. We avoid jargon and prioritize giving job owners information they can use immediately. A similar approach shapes our training, where real-world examples help students understand how the law works.
What is your opinion about the competitors?
There are organizations in the field that deliver excellent work, but there are still large differences in standards.
We often see surveys that lack disruptive testing or fail to link findings back to the relevant feature description. These reports may convince people at this point, but they do not provide the standard of proof required under the Act.
What we do is driven by quality, not comparison. We know our methodology is robust because our evidence has already changed outcomes, including cases where developers have accepted responsibility for defects after reviewing our findings. Strong evidence leads to accountability.
What advice would you give to anyone starting a business?
Focus on building deep expertise and don’t compromise your standards. Consistency, reliability and quality work are more important than quantity.
Surround yourself with people who share your path and invest in their development. If you focus on doing things right, reputation and growth will follow automatically.
What three things do you hope will work over the next twelve months?
Firstly, the full launch of the Building Safety Masterclass to help employers understand the relevant faults, liability mechanisms and evidentiary requirements under the Act.
Second, to expand the portfolio of high-risk buildings that are managed and to achieve the successful approval of the Building Inspection Certificate.
Third, to continue to explore international discussions, including the recent discussion in Dubai, where organizations with complex, complex structures are constantly asking the same questions about competence, accountability and how the UK’s standard training and assessment translates into real-world decision-making.
