Company Founder

Chartered building surveyor and sole founder of Bressummer A.R.K.

Derek Johnson is the sole founder of the business and a chartered surveyor with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), qualifying in December 2014 and then being accepted as a Fellow of the RICS in the summer of 2025.

Derek began his surveying career at the age of 25 by enrolling in a post graduate diploma course at the University of the West of England. In 2011 he joined a mid sized firm in London as a placement student before joining full time, after graduating from his surveying course, cutting his teeth on Employers Agent roles for multi-million pound residential developments acting for housing association clients.

After working in London, Derek moved to Hampshire to start a family and after a brief stint at Mace in Winchester joined the large corporate giant of CBRE, based in their Southampton office. Derek worked at CBRE for the best part of 5 years between 2016 and 2021 and this is where he developed is expertise and experience in commercial building consultancy. In the summer of 2021 Derek then joined a small independent consultancy to head up the building surveying team, growing the commercial building surveying arm of the business to 7 people.

In February 2024, Derek took the decision to set up Bressummer A.R.K. Limited with an aim to offer clients the best of both sides of the industry he had experienced. The professionalism and expertise of a large corporate firm combined with the personality and reactiveness of a small independent firms.

He was accepted as a Fellow of the RICS in the summer of 2025, after recognition to his mentorship to others, work in dispute resolution as an expert witness along with management and leadership skills.

Derek retains an active role in the business in terms of leadership, customer care and helping clients in the commercial property requirements.

If you call our landline then you will likely speak to him!

Lets get personal

Some ‘interesting’ facts.

  • Where were you born?

     

    Chicago, U.S.A.

    I lived there for the first two years of my life before moving back to the U.K.

    I’ve also been fortunate enough to live in China and New Zealand in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s.

  • Any hobbies?

     

    I enjoy watching and playing most sports and am an avid snowboarder having done two ski seasons in France and Austria before starting my career.

  • Hardest thing about being a surveyor?

     

    Diagnosing/pin pointing sources of water leaks and ingress!

  • Personal life?

     

    Happily married with two kids, 1 cat, 1 dog and some fish. Live in Chandlers Ford in Hampshire.

  • What you enjoy most about being a surveyor?

     

    It sounds cliché, but its the opportunity to meet new people, see new places and genuinely engage with interesting projects and buildings.

It’s good to talk.

It’s important, in order for us to understand your requirements from the outset in order to give the best commercial building consultancy advice we can.

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