ISO
Integrated Management System Build
Not three consultants, three manuals and three audits. One system, one project, one person running it.
12–20 weeks
gap analysis to certificate
£10k–£30k
fixed after the gap analysis
1
system, audit programme and management review
One system, not three
Since the standards moved to a common structure, most of what they ask for is the same question asked three times. Build them separately and you write all of that three times over, maintain three sets of records, run three internal audit programmes and host three certification visits a year. Build them together and you define it once.
The parts that genuinely differ stay separate, because they should. Everything else runs as one.
| Clause area | ISO 9001 | ISO 14001 | ISO 45001 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Context of the organisation — including climate change | Shared | Shared | Shared |
| Leadership | Shared | Shared | Shared |
| Risk and opportunity | Shared | Shared | Shared |
| Planned change management | Shared | Shared | Shared |
| Competence and awareness | Shared | Shared | Shared |
| Documented information | Shared | Shared | Shared |
| Internal audit · management review · improvement | Shared | Shared | Shared |
| Customer requirements and product conformity | Specific | — | — |
| Aspects and impacts, environmental legal register | — | Specific | — |
| Hazard identification, worker participation | — | — | Specific |
The 2026 revisions of 9001 and 14001 both embedded climate change in context and both use the harmonised structure - so the shared rows are more shared than they were a year ago. The proportion you write once has gone up.
Which version do you build to?
Right now the three standards are at three different points in their revision cycles, and a build that ignores that is a build with rework already owed.
| Standard | Status today | We build to |
|---|---|---|
| ISO 14001 | Status todayPublished 2026 version published April. 2015 certificates must transition by April 2029. |
We build to2026. No reason to build to 2015 any more. |
| ISO 9001 | Status todayPublishing September Certification bodies certify against 2015 until the transition rules land. |
We build toThe 2026 structure, certified against 2015. The changes are known; designing them in now costs nothing. |
| ISO 45001 | Status todayCommittee draft 2018 current. Revision expected around 2027. |
We build to2018. The draft is two stages from final. Do participation properly and the transition will be small. |
The 12 to 20 week timeline
Length varies with size and how much already exists. A typical three-standard build for a 120-person manufacturer runs like this.
Embed is the phase most consultancies compress, and it is the phase that decides whether the certificate still means anything in two years. Training, toolbox sessions, the system in live use - worked in blocks with your team rather than handed over as a finished folder.
What's included
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5
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Gap analysis. Two to three days on site against every standard in scope. Written report and a fixed quote before you commit.
Process map - how the business actually runs, drawn with your managers rather than at them.
Aspects and impacts register for 14001, scored honestly against your real processes.
Legal and compliance register across all three disciplines, current at handover.
Objectives and KPIs tied to numbers your board already looks at.
Internal auditor training for two to four of your people, so the programme survives without us.
Certification body support: choosing a UKAS-accredited body, quote comparison, and on site for Stage 1 and Stage 2.
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Scope, context and interested parties, in your language rather than lifted from a template.
Risk and opportunity register across quality, environmental and OH&S, built from the risk assessments you already run.
Hazard identification and risk assessment for 45001, built on your existing assessments.
Documented information - the minimum the standards require that also works in practice.
Internal audit programme designed, scheduled, and the first full cycle run alongside you.
Management review — the first one facilitated, with an agenda you can reuse.
What it costs
£10,000 to £30,000, fixed, agreed after the gap analysis.
What moves the number:
Standards in scope
One or two
→
All three
Sites and headcount
Multiple sites, around 500
Existing documentation
Internal resource
Single site, around 50
A quality system with decent bones
Someone who can carry work between visits
→
→
→
Starting close to nothing
Nobody
The gap analysis is £900 on its own and is credited against the build if you go ahead. Certification body fees are separate - typically £4,000 to £9,000 across a three-year cycle for a business this size. We'll help you compare quotes.
The fee is fixed once the gap analysis is done. If the project takes longer than we estimated, that is our problem, not an invoice.
Single standard or integrated?
Do one standard. The ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 pages cover those.
Integrate. Especially when:
- Customers are asking for environmental or safety credentials alongside quality
- You have limited internal resource to run parallel systems
- You already hold one standard and are adding a second
After certification
Systems drift between those visits, and drift turns up as findings. Most clients move onto a retainer at handover — usually Active at £500 a month or Embedded at £1,050 — covering internal audits, legal register updates, corrective actions and certification body liaison. It costs less than the annual panic, and it's the reason our clients' surveillance audits are quiet.
You are not obliged to. The system is built to be run by your own people and we train them to run it. We'd rather say up front that maintenance is real work than let you discover it at the first surveillance visit.
Who this is for
Manufacturers, logistics operators and industrial engineering firms between £10m and £100m turnover, usually 50 to 500 staff, in one of these positions:
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A tier-one customer or a tender has made certification a condition of supply
You hold one standard and need a second or third without tripling the admin
An acquisition has left you with two part-systems and no single version of the truth
A cheap templated implementation didn't survive its first audit
Common questions.
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ISO 14001 to the 2026 version, which is published. ISO 9001 to the 2026 structure, certified against 2015 until certification bodies can certify to 2026. ISO 45001 to 2018, because the revision is still at draft. That combination means nothing gets rebuilt in 2028.
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Twelve to twenty weeks from gap analysis to certificate for most manufacturers. The variables are how many standards are in scope, how much usable documentation exists, and how far ahead your certification body is booking Stage 2. We open that conversation around week six for exactly that reason.
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Substantially. The shared clauses are written once. Adding a second standard inside an integrated build costs roughly a third of doing it separately a year later. The full case is on the integrated management systems page.
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Then you're most of the way there. The framework already exists, and the build is the standard-specific parts - aspects and legal register for 14001, hazard identification and participation for 45001. Typically the lower end of the fee range, and often faster than twelve weeks.
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We help you choose a UKAS-accredited body, compare quotes, and we're on site for Stage 1 and Stage 2. We don't certify, and we have no stake in the body that does.
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The fee is fixed once the gap analysis is done. If the build takes longer than we estimated, that's our problem, not an invoice. The only things that change the price are changes to scope you ask for.
It starts with a gap analysis
Two to three days on your site, a written report, and a fixed quote. You'll know what the build costs before you commit to it - and the report is worth having even if you go elsewhere.
Where we work. Greater Manchester and the North West as standard: Manchester, Bolton, Bury, Stockport, Rochdale, Oldham, Preston, Blackburn, Warrington and Trafford. Appointments elsewhere in the UK where the travel works for both sides.