SPACE Solutions, the workplace design group, is expecting to boost revenues this year by around a third after pulling off a management buyout.

The company's Edinburgh-based director, Derek Binnie, said the firm was targeting turnover of £12.5 million over 2007, up from £9.05m last year.

Space has just completed a management buyout from its previous owners, commercial property firm Chess Group.

While the details of the deal are confidential, industry sources suggested it would have been valued at between £3m-£4m.

The company's new owners, including long-term directors Mr Binnie and Steve Judge, said they believed there were "some extremely exciting times ahead" for Space, having ended its last financial year - to December 31, 2006 - with a rise in pre-tax profits to £1.17m, from just £13,721 the year before.

Helping drive the strong performance was a number of deals in the legal and financial sectors.

However, Mr Binnie said growth had been "across the board, with legal and financial particularly buoyant", while the company also extended its reach into the public sector, carrying out contracts for the Executive.

The uplift also helped boost the group's payroll by around 20 per cent to 104.

"In 18 months we've doubled our turnover from around £6m," said Mr Binnie. "This year our turnover will be £12.5m."

Space acts as a one-stop architecture service for companies looking to make the best use of their current premises or who are looking to move to a new base, carrying out the full spectrum of front-end analysis, design, project management and relocation.

"We're almost like going to the doctor. A client comes and tells us what's wrong with their current space. We listen and analyse the situation and come up with a remedy," explained Mr Binnie.

The company was established in Aberdeen ten years ago and opened in Edinburgh in 2003, which Mr Binnie said was "a springboard" for the company to push its services nationwide.

"It essentially allowed us to approach the bigger companies with our services," he said.

Mr Binnie believes the company, which also has bases in Glasgow and Dundee, is about to embark on a period of rapid growth as increasingly clients are retaining Space to work on their continually developing businesses.

However, he said one hurdle may be in finding enough skilled staff to underpin that growth.

"Primarily we've been a Scottish company doing some work down south. But a lot of our national clients want us to work increasingly UK-wide and we're looking to roll that out."

Jim Stanton, Business Editor, Edinburgh Evening News: Monday 6th August.