Connected Brethren — The Unispace Network

Unispace Global

Unispace was formed around 2010 by Australians Gareth and Charles Hales — two sons of Plymouth Brethren leader Bruce Hales. The company was established by consolidating a number of existing Brethren-owned outfitting businesses based in Australia, New Zealand, the USA and the UK. It provided a platform to establish a global company delivering interior outfitting solutions to major corporations including Boston Scientific, Airbus and Pernod Ricard.

Unispace grew rapidly year on year, eventually reaching 49 studio locations and approximately 600 staff globally. It was sold for a reported $300 million in March 2021 to Hong Kong-based Pacific Alliance Group (PAG).

In the twelve months prior to the sale, Unispace featured heavily in UK Government PPE contracts. On the back of this, Gareth and Charles Hales established a company called Sante Global (now known as Sante Group). The PPE and testing contracts were novated to Sante Global and were not included in the Unispace sale.

Our investigation uncovers the remarkable number of connections between Unispace/Sante and newly established and existing outfitting businesses owned by Brethren members — many with direct links to the Hales family.

Sante Global

In the year prior to the Unispace sale, Sante Global was established by Gareth and Charles Hales, primarily to handle the Covid contracts for PPE and, later, lateral flow tests. According to their LinkedIn profiles, many Brethren employees of Unispace also worked for Sante. Following the Unispace sale, some employees remained with Sante Global.

Over the last five years, the Sante business evolved from a Covid supply company into a strategic supply solutions business focused predominantly on defence and health, before transitioning again — today it operates primarily in the solar energy sector. For a full account of the Sante Covid contracts, see our investigation Spoil the Egyptians — The Hales Family & Covid Contracts.

Connected Global

Registered in November 2022 and trading as Connected Workplaces, the company provides interior outfitting in Australia and the United States. Our investigation uncovered some remarkable revelations.

Connected Global Pty Ltd is the Australian arm, owned by brothers Gavin and Russell Grace, initially with involvement from their father Peter Grace and his business partner Edward Fowler. These four are also the owners of Westlab Holdings Pty Ltd, the parent company of laboratory and consumable supplier Westlab.

Westlab and Connected are no strangers to scrutiny. Westlab was awarded multiple government contracts for PPE and rapid antigen tests, with conclusive evidence that it worked in partnership with the Hales-owned Sante Global to deliver them. Gavin Grace also came to wider attention after breaking the then-purchase record with a $14 million property in the Duval area north-west of Sydney. The employment of former Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt by the Grace family's Connected businesses has been widely reported, with Hunt denying any communication with Westlab at the time the contracts were awarded. Both Peter and Gavin Grace each donated $18,500 to Advance Australia ahead of the 2025 Australian federal election.

When we looked further at Connected's website, we became puzzled. The business was registered in November 2022, yet the website claimed: "Over decades our team has worked together, being led by our founders in successfully delivering design and construction projects globally" — and went on to describe growing an initial company to 52 locations with 600 staff globally "without any mergers or acquisitions, purely client-led growth". Were they referring to Unispace? Our next step was to examine the team page.

We identified 24 people listed. Of these, thirteen were identified as Brethren members, eleven of whom had previously worked for Unispace. Of the eleven identified as non-Brethren, at least seven had also been previously employed at Unispace. In total, at least 75% of the Connected employees shown on the team page had previously been employed by the Hales brothers. All senior management — with the exception of Gavin Grace — had been leaders at Unispace. Cross-referencing against historical Unispace website data confirmed they had at least 49 studios at the end of 2019 and employed approximately 600 people globally.

It would appear that the Grace family's partnership with Sante Global in Covid contracts has continued into the commercial interior outfitting sector under the Connected banner. It is also somewhat unusual that a family who ran a laboratory and consumable supply business would venture into a completely new sector — unless the majority of their leadership team came directly from the Hales-owned Unispace and they were drawing on the Unispace story to provide clients with evidence of their credentials. The question of who facilitated Greg Hunt's employment, and whether the Hales brothers had prior knowledge of the Grace family's political donations to Advance Australia, remains open.

Woodalls Holdings

While researching Connected, we identified substantial links to another Brethren outfitting company: UK-based Woodalls Holdings Ltd, trading as Woodalls Design. This is a company we have encountered many times, owned predominantly by the Woodcock family alongside a Sydney-based Australian trust called The Cameron Millar Family Trust.

Initially registered as Woodalls Business Interiors LLP in 2013, the company is run by brothers Garth, Dale and Mark Woodcock, alongside Garth's sons Jerry, Nathan and Hans, and Mark's brother-in-law Dale Brown. Garth Woodcock was the founder of a business that later became Unispace Global in the UK.

Woodalls have been working in partnership with Connected on a series of seminars and networking events in the UK and the US, including an event called LabWorks: Delivering labs that drive impact and innovation at the Science Gallery in London (March 2026), and previous events — Chaos to Catalyst: The Bold New Office — held at the Pendry in Manhattan and at the Corinthia in London. It is notable that Connected does not appear to trade in the UK, making the partnership with Woodalls the obvious route to market.

The Woodalls–Unispace crossover is striking. At least twelve current senior employees at Woodalls previously worked for Unispace — predominantly Brethren members rather than non-Brethren employees. The crossover includes Garth, Mark and Nathan Woodcock. Since the Hales sale of Unispace, Woodalls has seen substantial growth.

It is also worth noting that Dale Brown was formerly an employee of a family business in Swansea that printed leaflets for the Young Britons Foundation (YBF) in 2010, after YBF had received a donation from another Brethren company. The Woodcock family, like the Grace and Hales families, benefitted from substantial Covid contracts through their other businesses Oska Care and Orca Global.

Zenixspace

Zenixspace operates from Oxford, UK and Zurich, Switzerland — another outfitting company with considerable links to the former Hales-owned Unispace. It is owned by Zurich-based Australian Leigh Sandeman.

The UK business was incorporated in December 2021. Directors include brothers Ross and Luke Robertson, along with non-executive Rob Critchley. Other individuals involved include Russell Devenish, Benjamin Tiso, Sebastian Parsons and Loren Ching. The Swiss business was registered at the end of 2019.

Research shows that many of the senior leadership have previously worked for Unispace, including Sebastian Parsons, Russell Devenish, Benjamin Tiso and Ross Robertson. There are also former Unispace non-Brethren employees in the team. Multiple links to Covid contracts exist, particularly involving Sebastian Parsons and the Robertson brothers. We also found evidence of Zenixspace completing a fit-out for the Dean Hales-owned Ox Tools.

Other Brethren Outfitting Companies

The drive to establish outfitting companies is likely rooted in the success of Archway House in Australia — an outfitting company built by Bruce Hales himself before his ascension to the Brethren leadership. There are now literally hundreds of Brethren-linked companies operating in the outfitting space. The larger ones work in commercial offices; specialist companies serve care homes, education, laboratories, hotels, warehousing, medical practices and dental surgeries. Alongside construction supplies and packaging, outfitting is the sector with the highest concentration of Brethren-linked businesses.

Innspace is a New York-based outfitting company owned by the Markham family. Managing director Ross Markham was a senior principal at Unispace for over ten years before launching Innspace. Previously he worked in the family business, the Jefferson Group, which supplies furniture to outfitting companies and now also undertakes outfitting work directly. Innspace has expanded into hotel outfitting and employs former Unispace and Sante staff.

Woodhouse Contracts, based in Hatfield, is owned by the Cooper family. A well-established Brethren-linked business, it has seen substantial growth in recent years. Our research found relatively little crossover between Woodhouse and Unispace employees.

Office Principles is a Reading-based outfitting company owned by Cyril Parsons — co-founder of Unispace in the UK alongside business partner Garth Woodcock of Woodalls. Cyril is the father of Sebastian Parsons, formerly of Unispace and now at Zenixspace. Luke Robertson of Zenixspace is also a former employee of a Parsons family business.

Expedite Projects is based in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by the Simmons family — all sons of men who led the Unispace business in New Zealand prior to its sale. The business was established after the Hales sale of Unispace and shares many crossover employees and senior managers with the former business. Like Connected, Expedite Projects employs former Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt as an adviser.

Recurring Circles

One could argue that our investigation into Brethren outfitting companies provides only a microscopic view of what happens in the wider commercial world. Employees gain experience and move between competing companies in the same sector — this is a normal feature of business life, and in some instances what we observe is indeed reflective of wider commercial norms.

However, there is a recurring theme that goes beyond the ordinary: build small companies, consolidate them into one business, sell, and then repeat the cycle. In most business sales, the majority of employees remain with the acquired company. In the Brethren world, when a Brethren-owned business is sold, we consistently see wholesale exits of Brethren employees — driven by the doctrine of separation — followed by their re-employment at other Brethren businesses competing in the same markets. New competing businesses are established, simply under different Brethren family ownership.

In the case of Connected, the evidence raises legitimate questions about the authenticity of their company narrative. The claim to decades of experience, 52 locations and 600 staff built without mergers or acquisitions appears to be drawing on the Hales-owned Unispace story — not Connected's own.

What is clear across this entire investigation is a web of political donations, government contracts, closely related individuals at nominally competing companies, and a shared history of working together. The Brethren have built an extraordinary business network. Whether as a buyer, a client, a competitor, or a government awarding contracts, understanding that network matters.