1. Privacy Policy Overview
This Privacy Policy outlines how CIK ENGINEERING LTD collects, uses, stores, and protects your personal data when you interact with our website, communicate with us, or use our engineering consultancy services. It applies to:
- Visitors to our website https://cik-engineering.site/;
- Existing and prospective clients, partners, and suppliers;
- Prospective employees and other individuals who engage with us regarding career opportunities via our Contact Us page or other channels.
We process personal data in accordance with UK and EU data protection legislation and strive to ensure that our handling of your information remains transparent, lawful, and proportionate to our engineering and consultancy activities.
2. Information Collection
We may collect both personal and non-personal information when you interact with CIK ENGINEERING LTD online or offline. The types of data we process depend on how you engage with us.
2.1 Information you provide directly
You may provide personal data to us when you:
- Fill in forms on our website, including enquiry or project request forms available via Contact Us;
- Contact us by email, telephone, or post to request information about our Services, Expertise, or Projects;
- Register interest in working with CIK ENGINEERING LTD or apply for job opportunities;
- Engage with us at events, industry conferences, or client meetings.
This information may include:
- Identification and contact details (such as name, job title, company name, email address, telephone number, postal address);
- Professional details (such as area of engineering expertise, sector focus, project requirements, and procurement information);
- Recruitment-related information (such as CV, cover letter, employment history, qualifications, and references);
- Any other information you choose to provide in the context of our professional relationship.
2.2 Information collected automatically
When you visit our website, we may automatically collect certain technical and usage data to help us understand how visitors interact with our content and to maintain a secure, high-performing experience. This may include:
- IP address, browser type, and device information;
- Operating system, language settings, and access times;
- Pages viewed, links clicked, referring/exit pages, and navigation paths;
- Approximate geographic location derived from your IP address.
This information is typically collected through cookies and similar tracking technologies as described in the Cookies & Tracking Technologies section and our dedicated Cookie Policy.
2.3 Information from third parties
We may receive information about you from third-party sources where this is lawful and relevant to our engineering consultancy activities, such as:
- Business partners, suppliers, and subcontractors involved in delivering engineering or construction services;
- Professional advisors or recruitment consultants assisting with hiring or project resourcing;
- Publicly available sources, such as professional profiles, company websites, or regulatory registers.
3. How We Use Your Information
We use the information we collect for purposes that are necessary to operate and develop CIK ENGINEERING LTD as a professional engineering consultancy. These purposes include:
- Service delivery and project management — to design, plan, and deliver engineering services, manage contracts, oversee Projects, and coordinate with clients, suppliers, and contractors.
- Communication and relationship management — to respond to enquiries, provide technical information, arrange meetings, send service updates, and manage ongoing client and partner relationships.
- Business development and marketing — to share information about our Services, Expertise, Values, Leadership, and Projects, as well as industry insights, news, or events that may be relevant to you, in accordance with your communication preferences and applicable consent requirements.
- Analytics and website optimisation — to analyse website traffic and user behaviour, improve navigation and content, troubleshoot technical issues, and enhance security and performance.
- Recruitment and human resources — to assess applications, manage recruitment processes, evaluate candidates for roles across engineering and support functions, and maintain a talent pipeline where appropriate.
- Regulatory compliance and risk management — to comply with legal and regulatory obligations, maintain accurate business records, manage risk, and exercise or defend legal claims.
- Customer support and incident handling — to address support requests, handle complaints, and investigate any technical or security incidents.
4. Legal Basis for Processing
Under UK GDPR and related data protection laws, we must have a lawful basis for processing your personal data. Depending on the specific context, we may rely on one or more of the following legal bases:
- Performance of a contract — where processing is necessary to enter into or fulfil a contract with you or the organisation you represent, for example to deliver engineering consultancy services or manage project engagements.
- Legitimate interests — where we process data for our legitimate business interests, such as developing and delivering our services, maintaining relationships with Clients, ensuring network and information security, or improving our website. We balance these interests against your rights and expectations and will not use personal data where our interests are overridden by your privacy interests.
- Consent — where we rely on your explicit consent, for example for certain types of marketing communications or the use of non-essential cookies. You can withdraw your consent at any time using the mechanisms provided or by contacting us using the details in the Contact & Complaints section.
- Compliance with a legal obligation — where processing is necessary for us to comply with laws and regulations, including tax, accounting, health and safety, or regulatory reporting requirements.
5. Data Sharing & Disclosure
We do not sell your personal data. However, in the course of operating CIK ENGINEERING LTD, we may share your information with carefully selected third parties where necessary and lawful, including:
- Service providers and suppliers — such as IT hosting providers, cloud services, analytics platforms, document management tools, and professional software used to support engineering design, project management, and collaboration.
- Professional advisors — including legal counsel, insurers, auditors, and consultants who support our business operations and risk management activities.
- Project partners and subcontractors — where needed for the coordination and delivery of joint engineering or construction projects, subject to appropriate confidentiality and data protection safeguards.
- Regulatory authorities and law enforcement — where disclosure is required by law, regulation, or court order, or where necessary to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.
Whenever we share personal data with third parties acting as our processors, we ensure that appropriate contractual and organisational safeguards are in place to protect your information and to ensure that it is only processed in accordance with our instructions and applicable data protection laws.
6. Data Retention
We keep personal data only for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including to meet legal, regulatory, accounting, or reporting requirements. Retention periods may vary depending on the type of data and the context of processing.
In general:
- Client and project-related records may be retained for the duration of our engagement and for a defined period thereafter in line with statutory limitation periods and industry best practice;
- Recruitment data may be stored for the duration of the recruitment process and, if you are not successful, for a limited time afterwards in case of future opportunities, subject to applicable legal requirements and your preferences;
- Website analytics data is typically retained for shorter periods necessary to analyse trends and improve our digital services.
When personal data is no longer required, we will either securely delete, anonymise, or aggregate it so that it can no longer be associated with an identifiable individual.
7. Your Data Protection Rights
Under UK GDPR and related data protection laws, you may have certain rights in relation to your personal data. These rights are subject to conditions and exemptions but typically include:
- Right of access — to request confirmation of whether we process your personal data and to obtain a copy of that data, along with additional information about how we use it.
- Right to rectification — to request the correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal data.
- Right to erasure ("right to be forgotten") — to request the deletion of your personal data in certain circumstances, for example where it is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected.
- Right to restriction of processing — to request that we limit the processing of your personal data in specific situations.
- Right to data portability — to receive certain personal data in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format and to have that data transmitted to another controller where technically feasible.
- Right to object — to object to the processing of your personal data based on our legitimate interests, including profiling, and to object at any time to the use of your data for direct marketing.
- Rights in relation to automated decision-making — where applicable, to not be subject to decisions based solely on automated processing that have legal or similarly significant effects.
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details provided in the Contact & Complaints section. We may need to verify your identity before responding to your request and will respond within the timeframes required by law.
9. Data Security Measures
We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data from unauthorised access, accidental loss, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These measures reflect the nature of the data we process and the risks associated with engineering consultancy activities and digital operations.
Our data security approach may include:
- Use of secure servers, encryption technologies, and access controls for systems that store or process personal data;
- Role-based access and least-privilege principles to limit access to personal data to those who require it for legitimate business purposes;
- Regular monitoring and maintenance of our IT infrastructure and security configurations;
- Policies and procedures covering data handling, incident response, and information governance.
While we take reasonable steps to protect your data, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is completely secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security, but we are committed to responding promptly and transparently to any suspected data security incidents.
10. International Data Transfers
As a UK-based organisation, your personal data is generally processed within the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area (EEA). However, in certain circumstances, data may be transferred to, or stored in, countries outside the UK or EEA, for example:
- Where we use third-party service providers or cloud platforms whose servers are located in other jurisdictions;
- Where cross-border collaboration is required for engineering projects or specialist technical services.
When we transfer personal data outside the UK or EEA, we ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect it, such as:
- Using countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data by the relevant regulatory authorities; or
- Implementing standard contractual clauses or equivalent mechanisms approved under applicable data protection laws.
11. Children’s Privacy
Our website, engineering consultancy services, and related communications are not directed at children under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children in this age group.
If you are a parent or guardian and believe that a child under 16 has provided personal data to CIK ENGINEERING LTD, please contact us using the details set out below. We will review the situation and take appropriate steps to delete such information if required.
12. Contact & Complaints
If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our handling of your personal data, you can contact us using the details provided on our Contact Us page.
When contacting us about data protection matters, please provide sufficient information for us to identify you and understand your request. We may ask for additional details if necessary to verify your identity or clarify your query.
If you are not satisfied with our response or believe that we are processing your personal data in a way that is not in accordance with data protection law, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant supervisory authority. In the United Kingdom, this is the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Details of how to raise a concern with the ICO can be found on its official website.
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal obligations, or technical measures. Any significant changes will be indicated by updating the revision date on this page and, where appropriate, by providing additional notice.