Watson Batty Shares Equity
Last month, Watson Batty announced that Paul Ryan was to step down from his role as Chairman and hand over full ownership to the four remaining Directors Peter White, Andrew Grindrod, Richard Merrills and Mark Sidding.
The release of equity to seven 'rising stars' in the business is considered a major step forward in recognising and rewarding their talent and commitment and maintaining loyalty and stability for the long term.
Managing Director, Peter White, said, "As we move into our 42nd year in practice, Watson Batty maintains strong performance across all key sectors for a national blue-chip client base. But we will not be complacent with the reputation we have all worked so hard to achieve. We must always look to the future and our rising talent is undoubtedly the most important asset to nurture.
"We are delighted to reward equity to seven members of our team, some who have grown with us from graduate or apprentice level. They have all demonstrated immense commitment and capability to help with existing client development and growth of the business through new work stream exploration. They already offer a strong combination of design and technical ability but their new roles will provide new opportunity to develop their skillset in management, IT, marketing, health and safety and quality assurance."
The seven new equity holders are Regional Director Richard Crowson (46), Associate Director Ben Pickersgill (37), Associates Catherine Blain (47), Tom Sykes (33), Scott Lunn (36), Simon Collins (33) and Senior Architect Nick Hewitson (34).
New equity owner Tom Sykes said "Having been with Watson Batty for 12 years I have progressed from apprentice to strategic level, supported by the practice throughout.
"I am excited to have this opportunity to contribute to the future growth of the practice and support the younger generations of staff moving up the ranks."
Watson Batty operates nationally with offices in Leeds and Loughborough. With a team of 50 people it is on target to achieve 20% growth in turnover year on year with a projected £3m turnover by April 2018 and £4m turnover by April 2020.
Whilst the commercial and industrial sectors remain the core of the business, Watson Batty has deliberately invested to grow its work in the education sector which now accounts for almost 30% of turnover. The practice has also seen a major increase in commissions in the residential sector which accounts for 20% of current turnover and an increase in sports and leisure at 11%.
Watson Batty continues to invest heavily in developing its expertise and technological capabilities. The future focused business offers architectural, interior design, and principal designer services in addition to master planning solutions for all sectors and is credited for a number of major public and private sector projects including schools, universities, leisure centres, distribution facilities, residential developments and transport hubs. It's increasingly broad client base continues to include Royal Mail and Wm Morrison Supermarkets, both of which have been retained clients for decades.
During its 41 years Watson Batty has created over 1 million sq ft of retail space across 19 stores for Wm Morrison Supermarkets, delivered 3.2 million sq ft in mail centres for Royal Mail, designed 4,000 new homes and supported 20,000 new school places in the UK.
It is currently working on a number of significant projects across a varied range of sectors including a number of EFSA Primary and Secondary schools across Yorkshire and the North East, Rathbones Bakery facility for Wm Morrison, Crag Road and Kearns Village residential developments for Skipton Properties and the recently completed new passenger lounge extension at Leeds Bradford Airport.
