WilkinsonEyre

WilkinsonEyre’s breadth of work is helping it weather market uncertainties, with the practice currently as big as it has ever been in its 35-year history.

Despite a fall in the number of UK architects from 93 to 85, architectural staff numbers rose by 35 to 167 during 2017, with total UK permanent staff just over 200 and rising. Total fees grew by 14 per cent to £20.41 million.

‘Our strategy of working across lots of industry sectors and working internationally is helping us. Workload seems to be increasing, with a number of major projects moving forward,’ says founding director Jim Eyre.

Commercial work performed strongest in 2017, with key projects including the 50-storey Prussian Blue tower on the corner of Bishopsgate and Leadenhall Street and 21 Moorfields at Moorgate, which will provide a new London headquarters for Deutsche Bank. Although 2017 saw the completion of WilkinsonEyre’s Gasholders London housing at King’s Cross, the practice has noticed a quietening in the London residential market.

Transport remains strong, however, with work for Crossrail at Liverpool Street station and for HS2 at Old Oak Common. One of the practice’s new business highlights was in the sport and leisure sector, with its appointment to design two new stands at Lord’s Cricket Ground.

WilkinsonEyre is looking to increase its international work and sees potential for growth in Australia, where its Crown Sydney Hotel Resort skyscraper is now on site, and in China and Hong Kong, where projects include a new connector bridge at Chek Lap Kok airport. Its Hong Kong office recently held an exhibition to promote its work.

The practice says it is cautiously optimistic about the next few years.

‘We have some quite large commercial projects that will carry us through. Overall we’re pretty confident. But it’s very difficult to know what the real impact of Brexit will be,’ says Eyre.