I don’t know anything about consulting in the UK but you might get a better response if you told us
1) What type of consultancy, traditional building and facility consulting? Electrical/ mechanical? Computer? Industrial? Specialized in some way? A general service firm?
2) How big a firm are you contemplating? A small one-man operation? or are you well funded and thinking about becoming an international firm?
3) What criteria are you using to define best? Availability of employees? Availability of office space? Availability of clients? Quality of work life? Quality of non-work life? Cost of living? Cost of doing business?
You will always get better answers if you show that you have thought through the question and done some homework on the matter.
Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng
Construction Project Management
From conception to completion
You are right, the question was a bit vague. I'm thinking along the lines of a one man band FEA Consultancy for any industry sector involving structural/mechanical design.
Another way of putting it is:
What region in the UK has highest concentration of mechanical engineering work?
Why worry about location? I would have thought that you could work from your own premises carrying out the FEA and only visit clients to establish scope/requirements and to present results.
You can pretty much fly/drive anywhere within the UK in under a day an most of it from south england to the north is accessible by a 6 hour drive. Even if you decide that the Midlands (say) is a good source of engineering business opportunities there will no doubt be alternatives e.g. structural consulting for companies that carry out offshore work.
Try thinking at the sectors you would prefer to consult in and check websites for locations of the decision makers for those companies that are relevant.
Regards, HM.
No more things should be presumed to exist than are absolutely necessary - William of Occam
Most FEA work is in the south of the country where nobody can afford to live. If you have experience in the aircraft industry then there are plenty of opportunities around Bristol. Another main area seems to be in Hampshire, curiously. Again, it's another area where you'll need to win the lottery to be able to afford a dog kennel (detached). Aberdeen used to be good but only if you have experience in petro-chemicals. Around Manchester appears to have a lot of work too but, as in the case of the south, only if you like sitting in traffic jams for most of the day.
Look in Engineering magazines and you'll see where most of the vacancies are, and you'll also realise why they can't get the people there.
Buy a tent or caravan and you'll be laughing.
I'd decide which industry you want to contract for and get as close to that as feasible. FEA by remote control is possible, but I can't say I've ever really been impressed by node pushers unless they come and talk with the guys who are providing the correlation data. FWIW I work in CAE and I spend one day a week talking to the development guys who create my correlation data and use my results.
