KPMG embarks on £5.5m Manchester office redesign

The professional services company is turning its One St Peter’s Square office into a “collaborative hub designed to spark innovation and support digital transformation”, according to a press release.

KPMG has allocated £5.5m in the redesign of the 25,000 sq ft space. When work finishes in spring 2023, the space will be known as Ignition North.

Ignition North will support KPMG as the firm aids in designing, prototyping, and developing tech solutions for clients.

Jon Holt, chief executive of KPMG, said:  “Manchester’s thriving tech centre is a hive of activity and the city has really established its reputation on the world’s stage as a leader in this field. Its strong business community and access to talent makes this the perfect location for us to invest as a firm.

“Our new Ignition Centre in Manchester will support a huge range of incredible businesses in the region and more widely, bringing together insights, people, and technology to accelerate innovation and help them solve some of their most complex problems.”

Ignition North’s design prioritises meetings and presentations, as well as spaces for clients and colleagues to informally gather.

KPMG describes the three types of collaboration spaces proposed for Ignition North as follows:

• Sprint rooms: to allow clients to come together with KPMG and alliance partners for weeks and months to design and develop detailed ideas and digital solutions.
• Discovery and Insights Centre: a state-of-the-art facility to showcase the latest data & analytics and artificial intelligence tools. Companies can engage in real-time data exploration and scenario testing, and prototype development for big data systems, data visualisation, machine learning, predictive analytics, and optimisation.
• The Lab: where teams of 10-30 can translate ideas into specific strategies, solutions and plans.

The Manchester office transformation follows from a similar redesign in London two years ago. KPMG also has ignition centres in New York, Tokyo, Paris, and Sydney.

“Bringing Ignition to Manchester really demonstrates the potential and growth trajectory of the office and the region more broadly,” said Warren Middleton, Manchester office senior partner at KPMG UK.

Middleton added later: “When it comes to the office redesign, we believe it’s important to listen to what people want to see in the space and how they want to use it, so we will be reflecting their thoughts in the changes.

“Once the work has been completed, the office will feature a range of different workstations, ranging from traditional desks to collaboration tables for teams and informal ‘touch down’ spaces for people who might be in-between meetings.”

Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham praised KPMG’s choice to bring Ignition to Manchester.

“This investment, which will create new jobs in our digital and tech sectors, is a real vote of confidence in Greater Manchester’s thriving innovation economy,” Burnham said.

“We’re the fastest-growing digital and tech hub in Europe, and Ignition North will be part of an expanding network of businesses and working spaces across our city-region driving that growth.”