Accounts come as practice submits plans to transform 1940s warren into visitor attraction
Wilkinson Eyre is the latest large architectural practice to see its profits slip despite an increase in revenue.
The practice behind the Battersea Power Station redevelopment posted pre-tax profit of £4.8m in its latest accounts for the year to 31 March 2023, down from £5.3m in 2022. Turnover during the period grew to £23.5m from £21.8m the previous year.
The fall in profit came despite a staff cut from the 165 employed in 2022 to 157, and a squeeze in directors’ salaries from £423,000 to £387,000.
Both Sheppard Robson and AHMM reported falling profits in their latest accounts, published in the last week, despite an increase in revenue.
The figures come a after the practice formally submitted its plans to transform an 8,000 sq m network of 1940s spy tunnels beneath central London into a visitor attraction.
The project’s developer London Tunnels Ltd, a private company run by Australian banker Angus Murray and backed by a private equity fund, is expecting two million people a year to visit the subterranean attraction 40m below High Holborn.
The tunnels were built as a shelter for Londoners during the Second World War but later served as the headquarters of a covert Special Operations Executive branch that employed professional saboteurs to aid the British war effort.
>> See also: Wilkinson Eyre unveils plans to transform secret London spy tunnels into £220m visitor attraction
The complex continued in use during the cold war and underwent an expansion that created London’s deepest licensed bar. Author Ian Fleming worked in the tunnels in the 1940s, and they were the inspiration for James Bond’s “Q Branch”.
The complex was decommissioned in the 1980s but remained in the ownership of BT, which put the site up for sale in 2008.
Originally there were four entrances to the tunnels, but new development has blocked two. Under Wilkinson Eyre’s proposals the main entrance for the tunnels would be via a widened shaft at Furnival Street, south of High Holborn.
According to Wilkinson Eyre, the completed attraction is expected to draw in around 560 visitors an hour, but would have a peak occupancy up to 750 visitors an hour.
Angus Murray has announced his intention to float London Tunnels Ltd on the London Stock Exchange this month and has issued invitations to potential investors to tour the site.
In addition to Wilkinson Eyre, the project team includes Gardiner & Theobald as project manager, Aecom as QS, WSP as project engineer and Future City as cultural consultant.
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