Consultancy delivers a new headquarters in 18 months.
Growth from 180 to 320 fte in two years forced a new headquarters. Scope discipline kept the project on time and on budget.
The challenge
The consultancy grew faster than expected: 180 fte became 320 within two years. The existing office was full; clients were regularly received in nearby hotel meeting rooms. The board wanted to move quickly, but had no sharp picture of which workplace model matched the culture — and refused to lose six months on discovery.
Our approach
In four weeks we ran a strategic framing session with the five partners: target occupancy, hybrid rhythm, client experience, cultural values. From that we set a programme of requirements that explicitly refused room for scope drift during design. Location selection was accelerated using a property scorecard and a strict no-regret criteria list. Design & build was procured as a single contract with a fixed end date and a clear change management procedure — every change after start had to pass the steering committee. The workplace consultant sat at the table on behalf of the client, not the contractor.
The result
Eighteen months after the first session the organisation moved in. Design changes during realisation stayed at 4% of contract value — well below the sector average of 12-18%. Clients are now received on-site; recruitment became measurably easier. Partners cite the upfront discipline — no design without a locked PoR — as the deciding factor.
Key outcomes
“Without the strict governance upfront we would have lost this project to opinions. Instead it stayed the organisation's project, not the contractor's.”
Anonymised client — details adjusted to protect identity.