Environmental consultancy opens new Cheltenham office

An expanding environmental consultancy has opened a new office in Cheltenham to provide local support for clients old and new in the South West.

As part of an expansion programme, Ecus Ltd has opened its Cheltenham base at Festival House, part of the Jessop Avenue serviced office space in the heart of the town centre.

Sheffield-based Ecus is an independent, multidisciplinary environmental consultancy working across the UK providing services in environmental impact assessment, ecology, landscape, heritage, geoscience, environmental management and aquatic ecology.

Following a board re-shuffle in 2010, the company – which works at project and corporate levels for a broad range of public and private sector clients – has continued to grow year on year and has also benefited from investment to expand its operations across the UK and at its South Yorkshire headquarters.

Ecus managing director Nick Birkinshaw said: “The Ecus team has put in an impressive performance over the past few years and the new investment is helping accelerate expansion into new offices in Cheltenham and Scotland, as well as growing the team in Sheffield.

“Our centrally located headquarters combined with a growing number of satellite offices strengthen our geographical coverage, enabling us to offer a high calibre and broad range of services across the country.

“I may be a bit biased as my family are from Cheltenham! But this is a fantastic base for the business, offering us fast access to our clients in the South Midlands and the South West, as well as Wales.”

The growth of the Ecus team in Cheltenham will be delivered and overseen by technical director Phil Shepherd.

He said: ‘I joined the company last year and have been bowled over by the drive of the team.

“Having all the core disciplines in-house in Cheltenham will ensure Ecus remains efficient on cost and delivery for clients in the South West while broadening our national capabilities.”

Ecus is currently embarking on a recruitment programme in the South West to support Phil in delivering activity from the new office.

Established in 1986, Ecus is a spin-out company from the University of Sheffield. It currently employs more than 20 staff and has a turnover of £1.5m.