The street-pounding has earned rewards. Thake is now managing director of Aukett, taking over from Andrew Lett – now chairman – last November. His firm has even embraced the Continent in name: as of Monday, it is Aukett Europe. Thake has even mooted the idea of moving the practice’s headquarters to the mainland.
Thake became a partner at Aukett in 1981. This followed a stint at Leonard Mannasseh’s practice in the 1970s, having worked on building sites as a design assistant after leaving school at 17. Starting at Aukett with residential and interior projects, Thake then found himself at the heart of two significant developments in the 1980s: the integration of engineering into the firm and the creation of the B1 office block. Then came Thake’s European invasion.
His promotion comes at a time when the multidisciplinary practice has rarely been in better shape. After achieving its best results in nine years in 1998, last year saw pre-tax profit jump a further 65% to £1m for the year to 30 September. Sales, including joint-venture work, were up by more than 50% to £15.1m.
Last year, Aukett said it was going to increase market capitalisation tenfold – from £5m to £50m – in five years. And on the way, Thake says, it will become “the leading architectural and engineering design group in Europe”.
After his years of European experience, Thake is clear that the expansion requires a big investment in time and money. He is not impressed by the approach of some of his competitors: “A lot of clients are sold stories by people setting up in Europe who haven’t created a practice environment. People set up a post box with a receptionist behind it – they see it as an opportunity but not an investment.”
Most of Aukett’s 1999 profit went into such investments, Thake adds. “I bumped into a client in our Prague office this week,” he recounts. “He said he was amazed that we had a real office with real people.”
The geographical expansion is driven by the growth of Aukett’s multinational clients. On top of Aukett’s 10 existing offices, there are more being established – in Frankfurt and Casablanca. “We never set out to open up in Casablanca,” Thake admits. ”We now have 15 people working on IT projects there.” Switzerland and Portugal are other countries where clients are demanding a presence.
People set up in Europe who haven’t created a practice. They set up a post box with a receptionist behind it
John Thake, Aukett Associates
Then there’s the time. “Getting on and off planes for 10 years is not always fun but you have to do it,” he says. Thake’s approach is to be there in the good times and the bad, and he cites Aukett’s Berlin operation as an example of this. “A lot of people left there in the 1990s but we took the losses. It means we are there for the upturn. We need to be part of the culture of Europe.”
Being part of the culture could mean moving Aukett’s headquarters over the Channel. But this doesn’t mean Aukett will pull out of the UK, Thake stresses. “We will always have a substantial presence here. But Europe may outgrow London.”
With expansion the buzzword at Aukett, both geographically and in the services offered, 55–year-old Thake is keen to maintain a grip on the operation. Instead of being split into divisions, the practice is now project-focused. “You had people arguing over fees rather than achieving good results and on-time projects,” Thake recalls.
Staff now work in teams across disciplines: if the project is biased towards architecture, it is led by the architect, but if it concentrates on engineering, the engineer is team leader. This seems to suit Thake’s inclusive style of management and his ambition to create a “single design company”.
He describes the firm’s style as “international modernism” and sturdily defends the practice’s commitment to design. “Quite frankly, we have to establish our interests in the same way as looking at clients’ interests. That’s how we have survived as a business,” he says.
Thake also contrasts the firm’s output with that of the Fosters and Rogers of this world. “They are specialist surgeons; we are Harley Street practitioners. We don’t turn clients away. We create good architecture, sometimes in difficult circumstances.” As examples, he cites recent projects in Prague, where Aukett converted a listed brewery in the old city centre to offices and residential units, and Milan, where another listed building was turned into retail space and offices.
