Practice blames move on “current economic circumstances” despite uptick in turnover over past 12 months

AHMM's O2 shopping centre redevelopment was sent back to the drawing board to add second stair cores before it was approved in March

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AHMM is making “a number” of redundancies following a series of stalled projects, despite its turnover having grown in the past 12 months.

The practice behind the £1bn research centre in King’s Cross for pharmaceutical firm Merck is thought to be cutting around 40 staff from its headcount of 478.

It blamed the move on the “current economic circumstances” and postponements of instructions from clients to progress schemes.

The £44m-turnover practice said in a statement: “AHMM is, unfortunately, making a number of redundancies among our UK employees.

“Although turnover has grown overall in the past 12 months, the current economic circumstances, particularly in the UK, have had an impact on the size and shape of the business. 

“Despite the practice remaining busy on the majority of its projects, some projects have been put on hold unexpectedly, and instructions to proceed to the next stage on others have been postponed.

It added: “This is a difficult decision to make at this time, particularly as we were able to navigate the period of instability brought about by the pandemic without making redundancies.

“We are consulting with, and supporting, our staff through this period.”

The practice, which is an employee ownership trust, reported a loss of more than £600,000 and a drop in turnover of 22% in the 12 months to 31 March 2021 due to planning delays and hold-ups of new projects caused by covid.

In the 12 months to the end of March 2022, it saw its turnover edge up by around £400,000 to £43.8m.

Other major projects AHMM are working on include the 1,800-home redevelopment of the O2 shopping centre site in North London, which was delayed by the second staircase rule on housing blocks above 30m.

The scheme, designed for Landsec, was approved for planning in March after it was sent back to the drawing board to add additional stair cores following Sadiq Khan’s ruling bringing the fire safety requirement into immediate effect.

Other schemes hit by the new rule include Bell Phillips’ 1,100-home estate regeneration in Marylebone, while housing association Peabody has said it is redesigning 20 tower schemes this year to add second staircases. 

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