About Us

Why Ascham Grindal Exists

At Ascham Grindal, we believe growth happens when businesses invest, people access opportunities, skills develop, and labour markets adapt to changing economic conditions. It is a simple concept, but the realities, trade-offs and risks that sit within the idea are often absent from the strategies and approaches intended to make local places better.

Many of the challenges facing places, communities and economies can be traced back to the way local labour markets function. The jobs available, the wages they provide and the opportunities they create can have a profound impact on productivity, prosperity and long-term economic resilience. Too often, these labour market and workforce realities are treated as a secondary consideration in economic development, investment and regeneration. Yet to us they are critical part of understanding how growth happens, and how communities can benefit.

Ascham Grindal was established to help organisations better understand these connections. We work with developers, investors, Strategic Authorities and Local Authorities to understand how labour markets influence investment, economic growth and the success of places. Our approach challenges assumptions, tests evidence and explores how workforce dynamics may affect investment outcomes. By combining labour market intelligence, economic insight and practical understanding of how places operate, we help clients make decisions that are realistic, evidence-based and capable of delivering long-term value.

We believe that investment creates opportunity. However, whether places and communities capture that opportunity depends on how effectively local labour markets respond and how people are able to participate in economic change.

Ultimately, successful places are not built by investment alone. They are built by the people who live, work and build their futures there.