Grontmij expand presence in North West
One of Europe’s largest engineering consultancies Grontmij is expanding its team and developing its presence in the north west by opening a new office in Warrington and creating jobs in the consultancy’s water area of expertise.
The new office will service key clients, such as United Utilities, Morgan Est and the Environment Agency. Grontmij will continue to deliver technical services from its Leeds head office but will now offer a significant technical and management presence closer to clients in the north west.
Grontmij’s director of water, Scott Aitken, said: “The new office will boast significant dedicated technical teams, working closely with our clients in water asset design projects and providing consultancy services in areas of asset management.
”With a large water team already established at our head office in Leeds, we wanted to offer our clients in the north west a more local service, while utilising the resources we already have in Leeds. Our aim is to expand the company’s footprint across the UK so that our clients are never far from one of our offices.”
New operations director, John Hilson, joined Grontmij last month to help set up the new office, build client relationships in the region and drive recruitment. As head of the water team in Warrington, he will contribute to strategic development, raise the consultancy’s north west profile and establish a strong base with a variety of expertise. He will also liaise closely with Grontmij’s water teams around the country.
He said: “I’m delighted to have joined Grontmij at this very exciting time. The north west is a region where we serve a variety of clients and a dedicated local team on the ground will help to strengthen our position in the region further.
“Our future business needs and forecasts indicate that we will be using the full capacity of the office by the end of the year, and we plan to move to larger premises in early 2008.”
Mr Hilson joins from Faber Maunsell in Altrincham, where he was a director. With a wealth of experience, he has previously worked for companies including Black and Veatch, Mott MacDonald and the Babtie Group. Mr Hilson is a chartered engineer and a member of the Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management, holding a BSc in civil engineering from the University of Leeds.
Welcoming Mr Hilson, Mr Aitken said: “It’s great to have John on board to help us enhance our presence in the north west. John has a wealth of industry experience which will be vital to our future growth.”
Grontmij is recruiting at all levels, including senior, middle grade and junior engineers as well as technical specialists, and is particularly keen to attract graduates from the local universities to its professional training programmes. In addition Grontmij has seen some existing staff relocate to their new offices to take up exciting opportunities in the region.
Employing more than 950 people in the UK and Ireland, Grontmij has offices in Leeds, Solihull, Bristol, Dublin, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Peterborough, Reading, Wrexham and Warrington.
