Risk consultancy Olsson nabs £100m contracts months after Manchester launch

Fire and risk consultancy Olsson has managed to secure over £100m worth of British contracts just months after expanding into the UK.

The firm, headquartered in New Zealand, launched in the UK with a Manchester office after Simon Lay and Sam Liptrott – the former directors of engineering firm AECOM – were given the go-ahead to establish a standalone UK business within the Olsson group.

Since then, the firm’s Manchester team has landed contracts with a number of organisations around the country, including developers Regents and Urban Splash, the latter on its hoUSe scheme.

Discussing the contract wins, Simon commented: “We have exceeded our own expectations with these opportunities and I’m delighted that just a few short months, we’ve acquired such an excellent client base.

“We’ve also established our offices in Manchester at Jactin House and are busy recruiting across the UK to continue to grow beyond our initial expansion, so I’m really pleased.”

He continued: “hoUSe is a particularly interesting one; the New Islington hoUSes are close to our new offices in Ancoats, from which we’d admired the simple but high quality architecture of the hoUSe scheme.

“It was a great pleasure to be asked to contribute to future versions of the project in Salford on the Irwell Riverside scheme and the Smith’s Dock site in North Shields.”

Olsson’s Manchester team is also working on projects with architects SimpsonHaugh and Partners, property developers Allied London and Argent, infrastructure firm Lendlease and construction company BAM.

Speaking further, Simon said Olsson is continuing to invest in new projects across the UK.

He explained: “Student residential schemes like the Godiva Place project in Coventry remain an important investment opportunity but the demands of both the end user and funders mean that innovative design solutions are needed to deliver quality of accommodation and high safety standards in a package which meets the necessary value targets.”

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