Hiring Goodwin was stupid, a PR nightmare, says ex-RMJM architect

WILL Alsop – the “star” architect who was hired by RMJM in 2009 and quit last year – has spoken out about his two years working at the firm, branding the decision to hire Fred Goodwin “stupid”.

Mr Alsop, who joined the Scottish practice in October 2009 – running the “Will Alsop at RMJM” arm from the Edinburgh-based company’s London studio – quit last August to form a new company. The architect, who was hired from rival Archial and is best-known for his Stirling Prize-winning design for Peckham library in south London and for his masterplans for Barnsley and Bradford, has hit out at RMJM for its business-heavy model.

He claimed that the incarnation of the company created by chief executive Peter Morrison and his father, Sir Fraser Morrison – neither of whom is an architect – had become detached from the creative practice of designing buildings. The firm, which employs about 700 architects worldwide – down from more than 1,000 in its heyday three years ago – was involved in the design of the Scottish Parliament and also created the Falkirk Wheel.

“I was really caught in a corporate wasteland and that didn’t suit me,” he said. “The board didn’t have any architects. They were all about building up a business and supposed world domination. I wanted to be independent again.”

He added: “We have all got into that mode of a corporate takeover and growing through acquisition at an alarming rate. What we end up with is fewer and fewer larger and larger companies, which are not focused on what architects really do.”

More redundancies were announced at the firm’s Scottish operations last month, with the 120 workers in the Edinburgh and Glasgow offices told that about ten of them were likely to lose their jobs.

“RMJM is a good practice, but some of the things they did and the actions they took, I didn’t understand,” Mr Alsop added.

Mr Alsop’s hiring in 2009 came just weeks before it was announced that former Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive Mr Goodwin would also be taken on – as a consultant on a reputed six-figure salary.

“I was surprised when they appointed Fred Goodwin,” said Mr Alsop. “It was a PR nightmare, just stupid.

“I have nothing against Fred – on the few occasions I met him, I thought he was a clever, switched-on guy. But what didn’t make sense to me was why on earth a practice with its HQ in Scotland would want to take on someone who was the most hated man in Scotland. It made no sense.”

Scotland’s professional architecture body, the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS), has also raised questions about the company’s business model.

Although it employs creative professional architects, in recent years, the company has also taken on high-profile non-architectural names as “business advisers” – the best-known being Mr Goodwin.

Neil Baxter, spokesman for RIAS, said: “Historically, leading architecture practices like RMJM were led by leading architects.”