For a long time, the story of Ahrend in the UK was largely a London story. Our Charterhouse showroom in Clerkenwell has been a trusted destination for workspace professionals for years. But the North of England — with its booming creative economy, regenerating city centres, and a design community hungry for quality — represented a significant and largely untapped opportunity. That changed in 2024.
When we took a space inside Material Source Studio at 1 Federation Street in Manchester’s NOMA district, it wasn’t simply an expansion move. It was a statement of intent: that Ahrend is serious about the North, and that the North deserves the same access to our full workspace expertise as anywhere else in the country.
The setting matters enormously. Material Source Studio is the first of its kind in the UK — it is home to over 50 leading brands from the commercial interiors and built environment sectors, along with an 80-seat theatre, meeting spaces, a co-working hub and a workshop — all designed with architects, interior designers and property professionals firmly in mind.
For Ahrend, this environment is a natural fit. We are not simply a furniture manufacturer; we are a workspace partner, and Material Source Studio is precisely the kind of place where workspace conversations happen. When a designer visits to explore flooring, finishes or lighting, they encounter our collection in context — and that changes everything about how those early conversations unfold.
“Being present in Material Source Studio means we are part of the conversation from the very beginning of a project — not an afterthought once the shell and core are done.” Ian McClaren · Ahrend Sales Representative, Manchester
MAN IN THE NORTH
Ian is Ahrend’s man on the ground in Manchester, and the face of the brand across the North of England. With deep relationships across the regional architecture and design community, Ian brings both product expertise and a genuine understanding of the Northern market to every client engagement. Reachable directly at Ian.mclaren@ahrend.co.uk or +44 (0)7872 150271.
A showroom is only as good as the people in it. Ian McClaren has been instrumental in turning the Manchester space from a presence into a genuine business hub. Working directly with architects, interior designers, fit-out contractors and end clients, Ian has built relationships that simply could not have flourished at this pace without a physical base to invite people into.
That face-to-face dimension is something that cannot be replicated over email or video call. When a client can sit in an Ahrend task chair, run their hand across a workstation surface, or see how a quiet pod integrates into a broader office layout, the quality and thinking behind the product becomes immediately apparent. Ian’s role is to facilitate exactly that — and to ensure every visitor leaves better informed about what’s possible.
THE BROADER BENEFIT: PRESENCE CHANGES PERCEPTION
There is something that presence does for a brand that no amount of digital marketing fully replicates. Being physically embedded in a community of design professionals — sharing a building with complementary brands, contributing to events, hosting product presentations in the studio’s theatre — signals commitment.
For Ahrend, a business founded in 1896 with over 125 years of workspace expertise and production facilities across more than 25 countries, that credibility is something we can offer confidently. What the Manchester showroom has done is make that credibility legible and accessible to a regional audience that may have previously thought of us as primarily a London or European proposition.
“The North is not a secondary market. It is one of the most exciting workspace markets in the country right now, and we want to be a central part of that story.” Ian McClaren.
The early evidence strongly supports the decision to open. Enquiries have grown, relationships are deepening, and projects that began as a studio visit have progressed to specification and order. The Manchester showroom is already delivering a return — not just commercially, but in terms of how the brand is perceived and understood across the region. It is, in every meaningful sense, the foundation of something bigger.