Profit up at Hopkins Architects

Hopkins Architects has reported a 30% hike in turnover in its latest annual accounts, fuelled by a boom in work outside the UK and mainland Europe.

The practice, founded in 1976 by Michael and Patty Hopkins, said its income for the year to 31 March 2023 was £30.6m – up from £23.4m the previous year. Profit before tax was £6.9m, up from £4m.

A regional breakdown of Hopkins’ turnover showed that income from “rest of world” work doubled in the reporting period, up from £7.8m in 2022 to £16.9m in 2023.

Meanwhile, UK turnover dipped from £15.3m to £13.6m and Europe turnover dropped from £246,513 to £39,702.

The practice, which has its head office in Marylebone and a base in Dubai, said in a strategic report accompanying the accounts that the figures represented an overall financial picture of “stability”.

It flagged ongoing work for Oxford University, Derwent London, the Portman Estate, Native Land, Eton College, Dubai World Trade Centre, the Royal Commission for Al Ullah, in Saudi Arabia, Cleveland Clinic, and the Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotel Group.

Hopkins said the year ahead would see the start on site of projects for the Grosvenor Estate, Colby College and the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames – where the practice won a design competition for the Twickenham Riverside project in 2019. At the time the project had an anticipated construction budget of £25m-£35m.

The practice also pointed to “work on the drawing board” for CERN, the Royal Commission for Al Ullah, Siemens and the Goodwood Estate.

“The board is confident that the business is in a strong position,” the strategic report said. “However it does anticipate challenges ahead from the downturn in the UK and global economy.

“Having work spread across several sectors in the US and the Middle East as well as the UK provides a broad platform from which to win new work and to continue to deliver sustainable and well-designed buildings for our clients.”

The accounts said Hopkins Architects group headcount was 180 in 2023, unchanged from 2022. However the figure included a small increase in architects and architectural staff over the period, from 150 to 152, that was offset by a decrease in other categories of staff.

According to the report, the practice’s highest-paid director earned £145,802 in 2023, down from £148,152 in 2022. The director was not named.

Practice founder Michael Hopkins died in June last year at the age of 88. He had been suffering from vascular dementia for a number of years.

Patty Hopkins was awarded an OBE for services to architecture in the New Years Honours List.