AHMM profit more than doubles

Architect Allford Hall Monaghan Morris has seen profit more than doubled in the year it was appointed by Google to design the tech giant’s £650m London headquarters.

In accounts filed at Companies House for the year to 31 March 2013, AHMM reported a 157% rise in pre-tax profit to £2.2m, up from £843,593 over the previous year.

The firm’s operating profit also doubled, up from £1.15m the year before to £2.4m.

AHMM also reported a rise in revenue of 45%, up from from £12.4m last year to £18m.

Managing director Peter Morris said the increased turnover reflected “a pick-up in development and construction activity” along with “a careful focus on cost management”.

He said the firm’s pre-tax profit margin had risen to 12%.

Morriss said three years of “sustained growth” had helped the practice to expanded by around 70 architectural staff, with the now 250-strong London office into a purpose-built rooftop office in Clerkenwell.

He said other highlights included a doubling of the size of Bristol office to 35 architectural staff, and the opening a new office in Oklahoma City

AHMM was appointed to design Google’s £650m Kings Cross headquarters in January.

Although the firm’s original design, which won planning in September, has now been scrapped by the tech giant, AHMM has been kept on to redesign the scheme as part of a review that could yet see the project double in value.

The practice was also recently appointed to design London’s new police headquarters, which involves a revamp of the iconic Curtis Green building on the city’s Victoria Embankment, and has masterplanned the development of the old BBC Television Centre for developer Stanhope.