TowerEight, the leading independent project and cost management consultancy, is opening its first office outside London this year to meet market demand. The new office is part of the firm’s strategy to grow income to £20m within five years.
The firm employs 80 staff from its London Bridge base but Morris said its expansion plans mean it will look at increasing numbers up to around 120 at its new office where it has capacity for 140 people.
Turnover in the year to May 2018 at the firm increased 15% to £12.5m with the firm forecasting revenue of £13.5m in its current financial year.
The Tower Bridge-based company is also looking at locations across Europe to continue to service EU clients following BREXIT.
“The firm is benefiting from our strategy of hiring the most experienced people and ensuring that our clients receive the best possible service,” explained Founder and Director James Morris.
“We have just promoted six new directors from within the business and are confident that we can continue this organic growth and maintain our high client retention rate.”
An office has already been secured in the middle of Manchester which will be due to open in late 2018. The site would service the North West and Midlands with TowerEight’s existing clients in Manchester itself, Leeds, Liverpool, Sheffield and Nottingham.
“As part of this strategy to ensure high level client service, we realised that a strong office base in the regions would benefit our client relationships but also leave the firm well placed to drive new business in those markets,” James Morris explained.
“We have a significant amount of work there such as student accommodation and hotel work and it makes sense to be based in a market in these parts of the country that are doing very well.”
TowerEight is also looking at working in Germany and the Benelux countries with a potential of an office opening in Berlin in the coming year.
“Germany would be an opportunity,” he added. “It’s next on our list after Manchester. I think it will be virtually impossible to work out there [in the EU] without an office [after Brexit].”
The firm also recruited project manager Ciaran Galvin from Arcadis during the summer tasked to develop its work in the office fit-out market.
TowerEight’s current client list is weighted more heavily in favour of residential, mixed-use, hotels and leisure with 10% of the portfolio in the office market – Galvin has been tasked with increasing this to 25% of total client work.
TowerEight has been appointed to Quintain’s mixed-use scheme at Wembley in north-west London It is also working on a 2,000 homes scheme for developer Greystar at the in Greenford, west London. It also works across more than 40 UK hotels for hotel chain Marriott.
