Council partner extends commitment to borough

Mouchel’s highways and engineering staff welcomed to Rochdale outside the town hall.
Rochdale Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Finance, Councillor Farooq Ahmed; Impact Partnership’s Highways & Engineering Director and Mouchel Client Services Director, David Nicholson; Council Leader Councillor Colin Lambert; Mouchel’s Engineering Services Director, Chris Founds. Rear: Mouchel highways & engineering staff and counterparts from Impact Partnership

One of Rochdale Borough Council’s partners has announced plans to expand its presence in the borough.

Consulting and business services group Mouchel, whose Impact Partnership joint venture with Rochdale Borough Council is now in its sixth year, provides highways and engineering and other services on behalf of the council. It provides similar services in Oldham through its Unity Partnership with the council.

Mouchel’s plans to extend its Manchester Centre of Excellence for professional highways and engineering services to Rochdale will see an initial group of 20 staff co-located with Impact Partnership’s highways staff in the council’s municipal offices in Rochdale town centre. The team will provide services to 15 northern local authority contracts as well as Mouchel’s regional, national, and international clients ranging as far afield as Western Australia.

Rochdale Borough Council Leader, Councillor Colin Lambert, welcomed the staff to Rochdale.

He said: “The council’s partnership with Mouchel has to be about helping to improve council services and bringing to the borough extra income and jobs.

"The company is an essential partner as the council shapes up to meet some tough financial challenges in the years ahead and I am  pleased that Mouchel is accelerating its plans and making a bigger investment in Rochdale.”

David Nicholson, Highways and Engineering Director for Impact and Unity Partnerships and Client Services Director for Mouchel said: “We’re delighted that Mouchel staff will now be working right alongside colleagues from Impact Partnership on a day-to-day basis.

"We think that the increased sharing of knowledge and expertise will benefit both groups and, importantly, our work for the borough.”        

 Chris Founds, Engineering Services Director for Mouchel, said: “This will position Rochdale borough as a market leader in the North West for highways and engineering professional services, with the very real potential to win significant new contracts, create new jobs and develop high calibre technical professionals.”