Ryder gobbles up Devereux

Ryder Architecture has snapped up PM Devereux.

Devereux’s staff will relocate to Ryder’s London office in Fitzrovia.

The practice, previously known as Devereux Architects, was acquired by Irish engineer and project manager PM Group in 2007.

Its most recent accounts saw it make a pre-tax loss of £264,000 from a £205,000 profit the year before. Turnover in the year to December 2016 tumbled more than a third to £2.1 million.

The firm blamed falling public sector workloads.

It has been collaborating with Ryder over the past 12 months.

Nic Allen, director at Devereux, said: “We have been working with Ryder for a while and have a number of mutual clients nationally so integrating the practices was a natural evolution of the relationship.

“We are extremely excited about this venture which brings benefits to both practices and will lead to great opportunities for our people and our clients.”

He said Devereux’s experience in the healthcare and higher education sectors, primarily in the south, was complementary to Ryder’s portfolio in these sectors.

The combined practice with teams in Newcastle, London, Glasgow, Liverpool, Hong Kong and Vancouver will have 180 people with a turnover of around £15 million.

Mark Thompson, managing partner at Ryder said: “We are delighted to welcome the Devereux team to Ryder which will strengthen our capability in key sectors and bring greater capacity to our London team which is enjoying a period of growth.”