LLP for Turner & Townsend

The firm, whose turnover is set to reach the £100m mark for the year to 30 April 2005, said this would simplify the structure of the business.

The move to LLP from partnership has already been made by major firms such as EC Harris, Davis Langdon and Gardiner & Theobald, and is taken to to reduce the amount of risk for partners in the event of legal action against their firm.

T&T’s chairman, Tim Wray, said: “We have several divisions within the business that are already limited – but not the overall umbrella group. This puts it all under one banner.”

Wray said the process, which had taken the firm six months, had been relatively straightforward and was helped by the prior move to LLP from T&T’s rivals. Wray said: “It’s not particularly expensive or time consuming. The job of novating contracts has also been simple, as clients have already experienced that with other firms. It’s definitely the right time for us to do this.”

Wray said he expected the firm’s turnover to increase further for the year 2005–06, moving up to the £120m mark. This would be partially through geographical expansion in areas such as the Middle East and Ireland, Wray said.

This process isn’t particularly time-consuming or expensive… it’s definitely the right time for us to do it

Tim Wray

The move by QS partnerships to LLP is also being made by smaller firms. Ridge, for example, which has five offices in England and a turnover of £15m, switched to LLP at the start of the year.

Partner Guy Austin said the firm had been concerned about the attitude of its bank to the move. He said: “Some other practices told us our bank might take a different view of us if we went LLP. But it turned out fine, as we have a very good relationship with our bank.” He said that all the partners had been in agreement about he move to LLP.

Austin said the firm, which has 200 staff, was concerned about the risk of legal action against staff. He said: “People are more litigiously minded these days. It’s less of a worry when going to LLP.”

Austin said the move was also due to the increased emphasis on health and safety within the construction sector.