Strategic review at heritage practice follows workload slump in two regions

BBG Heritage_Howells

Donald Insall Associates is working on the restoration of Birmingham’s botanical gardens with Howells

Donald Insall Associates has closed its Cambridge office and downsized its team in Bath following a slump in workloads in the two regions.

The heritage specialist has made five redundancies from its headcount of 140 as part of a strategic review of its project pipelines, which it said was prompted by political and economic uncertainty over the past year.

Three out of eight staff working at its office in Bath have been made redundant, while two of the four-strong team in Cambridge have been cut, with the remaining two moved to the firm’s London team on a hybrid basis.

The practice said: “We have undertaken a strategic review of our project pipelines across the UK to rebalance our regional presence in line with current market demand. We have expanded our studios in Oxford, Manchester and York.  

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“However, like many architectural practices, we have been impacted by political and economic uncertainty over the past year, which particularly affected our workload in the Cambridge and Bath areas. 

“After careful consideration, our Cambridge studio has now closed, and there has been a restructure within our Bath studio. There have been five redundancies from these studios.   

“We highly value our specialist colleagues and we did not take this decision lightly. This does not affect our work with the custodians of some of the most nationally significant heritage sites in the UK and we continue to provide exemplary conservation architecture and heritage consultancy services to support continuous change in the heritage environment.”

The firm added that its headcount “remains consistent” and it continues to seek new work in Cambridge and East Anglia.

Donald Insall Associates’ past projects in East Anglia include a restoration of the Saxtead Green Post Mill, a historic windmill in Suffolk, which was completed in 2020.