Jobs axed and pay cut 10% at Holyrood architect firm

Published on Monday 20 April 2009 22:08

ONE of Scotland's leading architectural practices is set to shed dozens of jobs at its offices in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

RMJM, the firm which helped design the Scottish Parliament building at Holyrood, has also asked its 1,000-strong workforce around the world to take a 10 per cent pay cut.

The global recession has been blamed for the cutbacks at the Edinburgh-based firm, the seventh largest architectural practice in the world, which had millions of pounds of projects on its books last year.

The company has offices in Cambridge, London, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Hong Kong, Moscow, New York, Philadelphia, Princeton, St Petersburg, Shanghai, Singapore and Washington DC.

However, it is thought the majority of the 60 jobs expected to go will be from RMJM's base in Edinburgh and at its other Scottish office in Glasgow.

RMJM recently announced record pre-tax profits in the year to April 2008 after they surged by 97 per cent to almost 100 million.

Major contracts in recent years include the Beijing Olympic Convention Centre, the headquarters for the China Merchants' Bank in Shanghai, a new international airport in Kolkata in India and a controversial tower for the new Gazprom headquarters in St Petersburg.

Only last year, the company announced plans to set up permanent base in Mumbai as part of its global expansion.

But Peter Morrison, the firm's chief executive, said yesterday: "Like so many other firms, RMJM is having to reduce staff numbers to provide some level of protection against the negative impacts of the recession.

"It is hugely regrettable, but unfortunately unavoidable, to be letting go of hard-working and talented staff.

"In the coming months, around 60 posts in Europe will be made redundant and staff have also been asked to take a voluntary 10 per cent salary cut."

RMJM is the latest in a string of firms to be hit by the slump in the property market at home and abroad. Rival Edinburgh firm Malcolm Fraser Architects revealed a number of job losses last year.

Experts believe half of Scotland's architects could be out of work by the end of the year if the property market does not improve. A survey of firms carried out in November found almost half were predicting a "decrease in workload" for 2009.

Last month, Edinburgh-based property giant Miller laid off 600 workers, almost a third of its workforce.

Ron Hewitt, chief executive of Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, called for more public sector construction work to help save such jobs.

He said: "We've got architects losing their jobs just now and we've got lawyers losing their jobs – these are specialists.

"Hopefully, they will find work elsewhere but if they do, they may not come back when the upturn happens and we need them again.

"What governments should be doing is getting the work there so that these types of people remain in their employment."