Bond Bryan acquires Manchester-based Fairhursts Design Group | News

Historic Manchester practice Fairhursts Design Group has been acquired by Bond Bryan after it went into administration.

Bond Bryan bought the practice behind some of Manchester’s most famous listed buildings for an undisclosed sum this week.

The deal will see Bond Bryan, which currently has six studios, expand its presence in Manchester, Cambridge and Southampton, home to Fairhursts’ three studios.

The acquisition creates a new group with a combined team of 180 professionals, including architects, technicians, interior designers, laboratory designers, landscape architects and strategists.

The pair have been working on a potential merger for the past year, but mounting debt and a series of project delays at Fairhursts are said to have “accelerated” talks.

Fairhursts appointed Craig Johns and Jason Elliott of Cowgills as administrators this week after 130 years of trading.

The firm’s managing director Mark Adey described the acquisition, which will save all 40 jobs at the troubled practice, as “an excellent outcome for the future of both Fairhurst and Bond Bryan”.

“Like many in the sector, we have recently faced extremely difficult trading conditions, which ultimately meant that Fairhurst was unable to continue in its previous form,” he said.

“However, joining Bond Bryan will enable both firms to offer a wider range of enhanced services and help take both businesses to the next level.”

Bond Bryan chief executive Matt Hutton added: “We have known and worked with Fairhurst for some time, including through our existing joint venture in Cambridge.

“Our specializations in education, advanced manufacturing and residential perfectly complement Fairhurst’s expertise in science and innovation, jobs and higher education.

“Together, this partnership is stronger than the sum of its parts, and I’m excited about the opportunities it will create for both firms.”

Fairhursts was founded in Blackburn in 1896 by HS Fairhurst. Its latest accounts, filed for the year to 31 October 2022 and approved at the end of last July, show the firm owes creditors more than £1.7m, including £390,000 to trade creditors, £416,000 to HMRC and £43,000 in bank loans. .

At the time, it owed nearly £990,000 from trade debtors and had just £15,000 in the bank, although this was a significant improvement on the previous year, when it had just £404 on hand.

The practice blamed turbulence in government and financial markets for an “uncertain” start to 2023, but said its growing workload with “previously quiet” clients and in the STEM sector gave it a “cautious level of confidence for the future”.

But it added that the cost of living crisis and the war in Ukraine had led to delays in starting projects and longer delays to schemes that had previously been shelved, meaning directors needed to keep “tight control over staffing levels to maintain profitability”. .

The firm also restructured its board to reduce the number of directors to focus on core sectors after the financial year to October 31, 2023 returned to annual sales.

Fairhursts has increasingly focused on science and research since taking over another long-standing Manchester firm, Cruickshank and Seward Architects, in 2008.

Recent projects include the £55 million Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Building for the University of Warwick and the School of Digital Arts at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Ongoing projects include a £60m life sciences scheme in Cambridge, a science campus in north London and the £45m Heart and Lung Research Center for the University of Cambridge.

Major past schemes include Dock 9 at Salford Quays for developer Peel, several buildings at Bruntwood’s Alderley Park in Cheshire and work at Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium and the club’s Carrington training ground, which is now being refurbished by Foster & Partners.

Fairhursts historic buildings in Manchester include the Grade II* listed Lancaster House, completed in 1910 and the Grade II listed Rylands building, a former Art Deco department store completed in 1932.