OCU Group Ltd – annual report 2024
Bold, collaborative reporting that unifies growth and makes complexity clear.
“Thanks to everyone at LB this has been a great piece of work, you’ve done us proud.”
Graham Billsborough
OCU Group
The challenge:
We’ve now delivered three annual reports with OCU, helping the UK’s leading energy transition and utility infrastructure provider showcase its rapid growth. In just two years, revenue climbed from under £300m to over £600m, underpinned by a series of major acquisitions. The 2024 report needed to unify this expanded business, communicate complex infrastructure work with clarity, and streamline production – all while staying true to OCU’s collaborative culture.
Our approach:
Together we developed a clear strategy built around the theme ‘Connecting the Future’. This gave the report a unifying message while highlighting OCU’s role in energy transition, digital connectivity, water resilience, and other essential infrastructure. Heritage and milestone spreads charted the group’s 30-year journey, while case studies such as Ferrybridge and Fiddlers Ferry showcased client benefits and landmark projects.
To make technical markets accessible, we introduced bold ‘splash pages’ and simplified data visuals, ensuring that non-specialist audiences could grasp OCU’s impact quickly. At the same time, full-bleed photography and authentic imagery of teams at work reinforced OCU’s collaborative ethos. The initials OCU represent ‘One Company United’, further embedding the group’s culture into the report’s narrative.
The production process itself was also transformed. A tighter working group, supported by collaborative software, enabled real-time input and streamlined approvals. This kept the process efficient while allowing wider stakeholder voices to be heard. OCU’s in-house design team contributed custom iconography and graphics, ensuring the finished report felt genuinely representative of the business.
The outcome:
Readership rose 7.4% year-on-year, a strong performance given that the 2024 edition had been available online for less time than its predecessor. Beyond numbers, the report has become a central tool in OCU’s communications strategy. The report is repurposed across channels to keep colleagues informed during a period of rapid change, while also giving bid teams a polished, credible asset to support proposals. For leadership, the report acts as a source of pride and a tangible way to demonstrate progress to clients and stakeholders. Overall, the report reinforces OCU’s position as a trusted partner driving the UK’s energy transition.