Merged teams come together in single new NQ hub
SLR Consulting has opened a new Manchester office, based in Dale Street in the city’s Northern Quarter.
The new base has space for more than 100 staff and will consolidate the consultancy’s multiple locations in the city into a single hub with teams from SLR and Optimised Environments (OPEN), which it acquired in 2022.
The office will help increase the sustainability consultancy’s support to new and existing clients and projects in the region, which include the Red Bank masterplan, the £400m mixed-use scheme at First Street, the New Carrington community in Trafford, and several regeneration projects for Manchester City Council.
The office represents a full integration of the teams from SLR, OPEN and Vectos – a transport planning and infrastructure design consultancy which merged into SLR in 2021 – supporting SLR’s collaborative spirit and its ability to offer clients both sustainability advisory support and technical project delivery across all sectors.
Jaimie Ferguson, director at OPEN, said: “Since becoming part of SLR, we have combined our collective skills, creating a team with remarkable creativity and design qualities that complement already strong technical and environmental abilities.
“This new office marks the next stage in our integration, and we believe it will allow us to increase our sharing of knowledge and expertise, which can only benefit our clients.”
Originally built in 1903 as the head office for the textile giant Richard Howarth & Co, the Grade II listed space at 35 Dale Street has been reimagined into offices, with SLR taking the entire top floor of 7,500 square feet.
Adam Smith, transport planning director at SLR, said: “Our transport planning and infrastructure design teams already work closely with OPEN and other SLR environmental specialists, but bringing together the teams into one collaborative space will not only mean more integration and information sharing, but will reflect the breadth of what we can offer to clients, driving better quality.
“In addition, we want to grow the SLR team across our full suite of over 35 technical services, and the set up at 35 Dale Street is perfectly suited for that planned expansion.”
