Gleeds will be converting from a general partnership to a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) structure in January 2025 as part of an ongoing initiative to simplify the group.

The 140-year-old consultant is making the change after announcing its plan to move its global headquarters from New Cavendish Street, where it has been for the past 20 years, to a home at 60 Berners Street in January.

As part of its transition to an LLP, the group will reduce the large number of legal entities that it currently has registered in the UK in order to streamline its accounting and operational processes.

Around 70 people in offices across the UK have been asked to voluntarily resign their statutory directorships.

Brian McArdle has been appointed as Gleeds’ UK managing director

Gleeds said this is part of an administrative realignment, and the changes will have no discernible impact on the individuals involved, who remain in their current roles.

Chief operating officer Salar Farzad said: “Gleeds has evolved beyond all recognition since its foundation almost 140 years’ ago. Becoming an LLP is the latest positive step forward, delivering clear benefits in terms of greater transparency and simplified accounting. 

“In tandem with updating our governance arrangements and investing in a new global HQ, we are developing a platform from which we can continue to thrive and grow as an independent business in a rapidly evolving landscape.”

Meanwhile, Brian McArdle has been named as the firm’s new managing director for the UK.

McArdle will take over from Anthony Cork, who is said to be leaving to pursue a new opportunity at the end of this year after 27 years at Gleeds.

McArdle joined Gleeds as a project manager in 2007, with his most recent role at the firm being regional managing director for the North.

He will join the operations board, headed up by Farzad, sitting alongside colleagues Michael Rowley, Jon Enever, Ben Huskisson, Louise Ellis, Paul Baston and David Johnson. 

The group board, headed up by worldwide chair and senior partner Richard Steer remains unchanged and Graham Harle continues in his role as chief executive.

The firm is expecting group turnover this year to be £267m, a rise of 15%, with UK revenue up from £130m to £145m. The group employs around 2,800 people globally.