A global engineering design consultancy with a presence in the North East has moved to new premises as it continues to grow strongly.
As Black and White Engineering’s (B&W) North East team celebrates its eighth birthday, the new office, situated within Quayside-based Generator Studios, provides 360 degree views of Newcastle offering more room for a larger workforce with additional break out and virtual collaboration spaces to encourage a balanced work environment.
The move comes at a time of exponential strategic growth for the company globally with headcount growing by 32% in the last 18 months. The firm’s headcount is nearing 400 employees across multiple global locations. In the UK and Europe, headcount has increased by 83% and in the North East specifically, the team has now grown 10 fold since it was founded eight years ago.
B&W has established close partnerships with some of the world’s leading technology providers. Across the globe, B&W has a key specialism in providing data centre design consultancy within the fast-growing technology sector using its one global team and client first approach.
The office move in the North East supports the planned and continued expansion of the team. Due to growing demand, the Newcastle office is creating an additional data centre team to support clients throughout UK and Europe.
B&W’s buildings team also continue to work closely with key clients in the region. Award winning projects in the North East for the MEP design consultancy include the Claremont Complex for Newcastle University, the Fujifilm bio-campus in Billingham and NUCASTLE, a state-of-the-art community hub that offers education and wellness facilities for the local community.
Steven Horn, UK and Europe Director of B&W, said: “We had four members of staff in the North East eight years ago, with a handful of clients and small projects. We’re now a team of over 100 people working on multi-million-pound projects that represent the most innovative and sustainable engineering design, not just nationally, but globally too.
“In December 2021, we hired a global HR director, Rachel Ovington, who is based in the Newcastle office, and she has developed a specific learning and development team around her to ensure B&W remains true to our people-centred ethos. Rapid growth always brings challenges but by continuing to invest in our culture and people, we’re able to follow our growth path and adapt to a growing team and client base.”
Karl Snowball was one of the four people who started at B&W when it established in Newcastle in 2014. He has worked closely with Steve in the strategic growth of the North East office and is now a technical director where his role is primarily focused on supporting the firm’s wider UK and European goals.
Karl said: “Working closely with Steve we’ve developed a robust strategy for the North East team to enable sustainable growth. Innovative software, people development and strong partnerships with relevant businesses have been our main priorities as we continue to work on some of the most transformational MEP design projects across the UK and Europe. Our efforts are now focused on adding depth to our key strengths of delivering an exceptional service as well as retaining and attracting the best talent to support our growth.”
