Strengthening Northern Growth with Manchester Office Opening and New Team 

We are thrilled to be expanding across the North West with the opening of a new Manchester office and the appointment of a four-strong masterplanning and urban design team.

Located in the heart of the city at Cubo, No.1 Spinningfields, the new space will provide a high-quality, flexible working environment, with access to shared meeting rooms and private pods. The new base enhances our ability to support clients across Manchester and the wider North West, building on its growing regional presence established earlier this year.

The office launch is accompanied by the arrival of a specialist masterplanning and urban design team led by newly appointed partner James Bush. He is joined by associate urban designer Billy Burgess, principal urban designer Matthew Howard and urban designer Georgia Gray.

James brings more than a decade of experience in masterplanning and urban design, having previously held senior roles at Stantec, Pegasus Group, Brown&Co and PRP. He will lead the development of our northern masterplanning and urban design offer, working closely with the planning team to deliver residential and mixed-use schemes across the UK.

The team joins with a strong track record of delivering major projects, including the Marriotts Park mixed-use scheme in Norfolk (up to 1,000 homes), a hybrid application at Moortown Lane in Ringwood (around 450 homes), and outline applications at Gresty Lane, Crewe and Sandbach Road, Congleton.

James said: “Joining Marrons presents a real opportunity to help shape and accelerate the consultancy’s growth in the north. We’re focused on building a strong, collaborative team and establishing Marrons as a leading masterplanning and urban design presence in the region.

We’re building a northern offer that combines strong design thinking with commercial awareness, delivering residential and mixed-use schemes that respond to both client and community needs. The breadth of experience within the team allows us to take projects from early concept through to delivery – creating innovative, context-driven places.

Billy brings a blend of architectural and urban design experience. His background includes managing and contributing to projects of varying scales, from early-stage frameworks through to detailed design and delivery, with particular experience in large-scale residential development.

Matthew is an experienced urban designer with a strong focus on residential-led development. He has worked across a wide range of schemes, from smaller private developments through to strategic masterplans and development frameworks – helping to take projects from early concept stages through to delivery with a focus on innovative, context-led design.

Georgia has experience producing testing layouts and masterplanning for a range of medium to large-scale residential projects, including conducting and presenting site analysis, and developing documents for planning applications.

The Manchester office and new team build on our northern growth strategy following the appointment of planning associate director Max Kidd-Rossiter earlier this year and under the direction of planning partner Dan Mitchell.

Head of Marrons Brian Mullin said: “The opening of our Manchester office and the addition of James and the wider masterplanning and urban design team is a significant milestone in our northern growth journey. This investment reflects our ambition to build a strong, multi-disciplinary presence in the North West and deliver high-quality, commercially focused solutions for our clients.

Manchester is a key part of our growth strategy and expanding our team here allows us to better support clients across the region. With the combined expertise of our planning and urban design teams, we are well positioned to shape sustainable, high-quality development throughout the north.