RSHP reports declining profit and turnover

RSHP saw a contraction in its global turnover and profit last year according to documents filed with Companies House.

The RSHP LLP accounts for the year to December 31 show the architecture giant’s revenue decreased to £23.6m in the year, down from £24.1m in 2021 – a 2% contraction.

Profit before tax took a proportionately much bigger hit over the 12-month period, dropping from £5.4m to £3.4m: a drop of 37%.

The figures follow a post-pandemic bounce back reported earlier this year. RSHP LLP’s 2021 accounts – which were published in March – showed turnover had increased by 32% on the previous year while profit before tax had more than doubled over the same period.

A regional breakdown of turnover accompanying the latest figures shows that RSHP saw the largest decline in turnover in its UK work, which dropped from £11.2m in 2021 to £8.8m. Revenue from work in the Asia Pacific region decreased from £5.0m to £3.1m, while Europe revenue dropped from £2.5m to £2.2m and North America revenue dropped from £1.1m to £709,143.

Turnover in Australia increased from £4.0m to £4.4m, however RSHP’s biggest growth area was in work categorised as “rest of the world”, where turnover increased from £252,725 in 2021 to £4.4m last year.

A strategic report accompanying the accounts signed off by RSHP director Ian Birtles said work on “several” of the practice’s projects that had been put on hold because of the Covid-19 pandemic had now restarted, including a mixed-use marina development in Dubai, two commercial tower developments in London and the Bayeux Tapestry Museum in France.

The report said RSHP was currently projecting that 2023 turnover would see a “modest improvement” on 2022 and that profitability would increase, despite continued cost pressures due to inflation.

However the report said the ongoing UK outlook was still one of uncertainty, caused by the impact of Brexit, Covid-19, rising inflation, and the cost-of-living crisis.

“Pressure on margins continues and we do not underestimate the challenges that we face to ensure that we retain our standing in the global marketplace,” it said.

“Notwithstanding this, the UK market has remained strong for us, and we have secured more work than we had previously projected. We expect that a number of London-based projects should start during the first half of 2024.”

The report added that a slowing in the Chinese construction market had been offset by other work and that the practice expected its proportion of work in the UK and the Middle East to increase in 2023 while China work decreased.

Despite the declining financial figures, RSHP reported an increase in its average monthly headcount, which rose to 149 in 2022, up from 134 the previous year.

Of that total, 98 staff were architects, up from 90 in 2021. Average numbers of office and administration staff increased from 41 to 48 over the period. Headcount at RSHP’s modelshop remained constant at three.