Astra Holding Group has acquired DNH Construction, a Plymouth-based fire, flood, storm and subsidence restoration contractor, giving the buy-and-hold group its first foothold in insurance reinstatement work at a time when UK weather-related property claims are running at record levels.

DNH Construction, founded in 1987 by David Holmes and now led by managing director Simon Holmes, has spent almost four decades repairing properties for the UK's largest insurers and loss adjusters across Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset, delivering projects up to £3m (€3.5m).

Astra Holding Group, a UK-based buy-and-hold investor in profitable British SMEs, has now built a five-company built environment platform spanning industrial doors, M&E services, security and, with DNH, insurance restoration.

DNH joins Interdoor, Acorn MPS, AB Key and J Manny in Astra's portfolio, deepening the group's presence in the South West following its acquisition of J Manny earlier in 2026.

Marktlink's London team, led by managing partner Victoria Ansell with Noud Janssens, advised Astra on deal assessment, valuation and structure; Marriott Harrison LLP provided legal and financial advice, with Crowe UK LLP handling financial and tax due diligence.

DNH gives Astra exposure to a category of demand insurers cannot switch off: weather and subsidence-driven property repair work.

UK property insurance payouts reached a record £6.1bn in 2025, with storm damage to residential properties up 32% to £244m and domestic flood claims up 38% to £312m, while the average subsidence settlement rose 9% to £17,820.

DNH's value lies less in any single contract than in the panel relationships behind it: the business has served several of the UK's largest insurers and loss adjusters continuously for more than fifteen years, the kind of standing that new entrants cannot buy and can only build over time.

For the sector, restoration contractors with established insurer panel relationships are becoming attractive roll-up targets precisely because that claims volume is structural rather than cyclical, insulating it from the swings that affect new-build housing and commercial fit-out, and industrial services groups are increasingly extending their built environment platforms into this segment rather than treating it as a niche.

Source: Consultancy.uk / Insurance Business