By Alasdair Reid

03 October 2022

We are immensely proud of the Partnership that was set up by our founder Max Fordham almost 50 years ago. The maxim that if you’re good enough to be an employee then you’re good enough to be a partner still holds and employees are invited to become partners after a qualifying period of about 4 years.

This equitable model has parallels with other employee-owned businesses, which have become increasingly popular in recent years; dare I say, another example of Max’s prescience and pioneering legacy.

Of course, with so many partners carrying out a wide range of roles, we recognise that it is potentially difficult for external collaborators and clients to identify who is leading the practice and so, for the last 15 years, we have used the title ‘Senior Partner’ to bring some clarity.

However, our leaders only govern with the consent of the wider partnership and Senior Partners have no additional status or benefits under our partnership agreement.

In order to properly recognise and celebrate our equitable ownership model, we have decided to stop using the term Senior Partner.

The practice leadership now comprises the Managing Partners (elected annually by the Partners) and the Directors, who will provide day-to-day leadership of groups, projects and our business administration. We have also promoted eight members of the practice to Director, as recognition of their roles in leading the practice (read more here).

Our clients and collaborators can still expect the same level of dedication and service from our Directors as was the case when they were known as Senior Partners.

All members of our practice leadership team can be found below.

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Managing Partners:

• Alasdair Reid, Chair of Managing Partners
• Andrew Leiper
• Colin Darlington
• Gwilym Still
• Kathryn Donald
• Samiatt Folorunso
• Tom Bentham
• (Megan Swartz, Managing Partners Secretary)

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Engineering and Consultancy Directors:

• Alasdair Reid
• Andrew Leiper
• Anthony Chilton, Acoustics Leader
• Ben Sellars
• Bill Watts, Decarbonisation Leader
• Chris Banyard
• Colin Darlington
• David Lindsey, London Office Leader
• Gwilym Still, Passivhaus Leader
• Hero Bennett, Sustainability Leader
• Iain Shaw, Manchester Office Leader
• Innes Johnston, Bristol Office Leader
• James Byass
• Kathryn Donald, Digital Design and Building Performance Modelling Leader
• Luke Hadley, Electrical Leader
• Mark Nutley
• Mark Palmer, Edinburgh Office Leader
• Michael Baldwin, Cambridge Office Leader
• Neil Smith
• Nick Cramp, Light + Air Leader
• Phil Armitage
• Scott Crease
• Tom Bentham

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Business Directors:

• Charmaine McKeown, Human Resources
• David Bowers, Finance
• Mark Knight, Facilities
• Mark Palmer, Engineering
• Michael Bullard, IT
• Michael McMillan, Legal
• Phil Armitage, Fee Bidding
• Simon Lovell, Communications