From first move to final handover.
We shape the strategy, partnerships and supply chains behind UK nuclear and defence programmes, then provide the engineering solutions and programme management to deliver them.
Advisory & strategy
Market entry, ecosystem design, partnerships and business development.
Engineering
Multi-discipline design and technical capability, from concept through to final handover.
Programme delivery
Project and programme management, supply chain and subcontract control, from mobilisation to close-out.
How we work with you
Three ways to bring us in, from a fully packaged deliverable to embedded specialist support.
Fixed-price packages
Defined scope, defined price. We take a package of work and deliver it as a fixed-price outcome, controlling the design, procurement and subcontract manufacture end to end. You buy a result, not an open-ended effort.
Advisory & consultancy
Senior input where you need it, on flexible terms where scope is still open. Strategy, market entry, partnerships and programme advice, drawing on the same people who deliver the work.
Specialist resource
Suitably qualified and experienced personnel embedded in your team to increase capability and capacity, accountable for delivery and backed by the wider firm.
Sectors
Two sectors, chosen deliberately. Both demand a standard of assurance, security and competence that general engineering consultancies rarely carry.
Nuclear
We work across the UK nuclear sector, from new build and decommissioning to the high-assurance programmes that sit at its most regulated and secure end. That runs from helping organisations establish and grow their position in the sector to delivering the engineering design and programme control the work demands. Everything is structured to meet the licensing, assurance and security expectations nuclear brings, wherever a programme sits on that spectrum.
Defence
We operate in a security-conscious environment aligned to the standards, governance and cadence of defence procurement. We help shape strategy, partnerships and teaming, then deliver the engineering and programme management that carry a bid through to controlled handover.
Our approach
Fixed price by default. Wherever scope can be defined, we carry the pricing risk, including subcontract contingency, so you don't.
Controlled quality. A documented management system covering design, procurement of subcontract manufacture and programme delivery, so work is traceable and audit-ready.
Strategically outsourced. Subcontractor partnerships are managed under a formal supplier control process, on back-to-back terms.
Senior throughout. The people who win the work are the people who deliver it. No hand-off to a junior bench.
Founders
Praetor is led by its founders. When you engage a firm this size, you are backing people, not a logo.
Lawrence Underwood
Lawrence is a Chartered Project Professional with over a decade delivering technically complex programmes across UK defence, nuclear and energy. His career started in engineering before moving into programme leadership, giving him a delivery view grounded in how the work is actually built. He has led design and assurance on a multi-billion-pound defence infrastructure programme and delivered nuclear projects from decommissioning through to major new build.
Guy Coakley
Guy is a mechanical engineer with over fifteen years in nuclear engineering, spanning decommissioning, research, new build and major defence programmes. He is a recognised expert in nuclear containment, from SNM gloveboxes to hot cells, and has led containment on the largest glovebox programme in UK history. He built and led the engineering function at a growing nuclear SME, including the partnerships and strategic development that opened new markets.