High-speed links transporting architects into future

Feb 2 2009 by Graeme King, The Journal

THE managing director of Ryder Architecture enjoyed a rapid rise through the company, but tells Graeme King it was being made redundant 20 years ago which started him on the road to success.

MARK Thompson is perhaps not the average boss of an architecture practice. He does not talk too much about the texture of brick used on the elevations of his latest office building, the marvellous space created in Ryder’s best college projects, or the quality of light which illuminates Newcastle’s new City Library.

He says himself he is an engineer and a businessman, and since he was made a director of his firm at the age of just 29, you can be pretty confident he makes a valuable contribution to the business.

Going through the history of Ryder in Newcastle – and further afield – he lists the projects which have built the firm commercially, and in stature, rather than lingering over those schemes with the fanciest crenellations or which won the most awards.

And it is this practical approach which perhaps helps to explain why Ryder Architecture has been such a success story in recent years.

With the realist Thompson in the managing director’s chair, and the more high-flown creative brain of Peter Buchan as chief executive, the firm has grown from 14 staff in 1994 to more than 120 today – despite having to make a few cuts in recent weeks in recognition of the state of the economy.

Ryder is making 10% cuts to its 140-strong workforce after the Government decided to suspend its programme of investing in further education colleges, an area where Ryder has been notably strong of late.

Ryder now has offices not only in Newcastle, but in Glasgow, Liverpool and London. It has severed ties with its joint venture RyderHKS, formed to work on healthcare work, and is in charge of its own destiny – which Thompson is still very upbeat about despite the deepening recession.

He says: “I’m still very positive for prospects in the future, and we always have a contingency plan. These cuts are sooner than we would have liked. We could have dillied and dallied for weeks but you have to go with your gut feeling to do what you think is right.

“I was made redundant in 1988 and it was probably the kick up the backside I needed to focus on something.”

“I still believe we have a strong business – and the right business plan.

“We opened a new office in London just before Christmas, and expanded in Liverpool and Glasgow last year. Committing to the London office is about playing a long game. Other people are retrenching but we are expanding – and it’s paying off as people who would otherwise leave us (as a Newcastle-based business) are staying with us.”

So how does he see the recession panning out?

“It’s going to get tougher, undoubtedly. Clients will want more, quicker, and it will be hugely challenging and hugely exciting.

“There have been schemes where people have bought a site and rather than flatten the building and rebuild, they have kept to refurbish and take a different view.

“But there are still people willing to invest. Hopefully we are at the bottom of the market.”

Thompson, now 43, was born in Wallsend and grew up in Forest Hall, attending George Stephenson High School in Killingworth.

He did not get into architecture through the extended degree course commonly associated with the profession, and admits he did not do as well at school as he might have done, since he was so busy enjoying himself.

He says: “I loved school, so probably underachieved academically. I still enjoy the company of my school friends and the lads I played rugby with.

“When I left, I went to British Shipbuilders at Wallsend to do naval architecture. I was a draughtsman in the early days of computer aided design (CAD).

“Newcastle Polytechnic, as it was then, did day-release in engineering but when I started my degree there part-time, I was made redundant from British Shipbuilders.

“The writing was on the wall really. It was 1988 and shipbuilding was in decline. So I went and did a bit of labouring work, with a friend. We did odd jobs, window cleaning, stuff like that.

“I even cleaned the windows at the Ryder offices in Killingworth once or twice.”

After flirting with several potential careers, Thompson responded to an advert for a CAD technician, as having been in shipyards, he knew a fair amount about it, and retrained as an architectural technician back at the polytechnic.

He says: “I had looked at going to BNFL, offshore work with John Laing on Teesside and Mowlem. But I always had an interest in building and did up a couple of houses in my later years at the shipyard.

“When I joined this firm, I worked my way up from CAD technician. I came from a different background, so I brought a different perspective to things. Peter is very creative so we complement each other very well.

“We got a big job in Glasgow, for a company called Pilkington Optronics, a periscope factory. That was my first big job.”

Thompson describes the culture shock of going from a shipyard to an architecture practice, and even things like the Christmas party were radically different.

At British Shipbuilders, the workers would head to the pub on a Friday lunchtime and not be back until after the weekend, while at Ryders, there was a lunch at the Marriott Gosforth Park, but then everyone had to go back to work in the afternoon.

He looks back to the last time it was necessary to make cuts.

“We had to change – we did not have work back in 1994 and it was a tough decision to make then. We cut back from 26 to 14 staff, but made a decision that we wanted to become the leading practice in Newcastle – and I don’t think many people would argue now that we are up there.

“We worked on projects including the Viasystems factory in North Tyneside, the BT call centre (on the Quayside), and the Sunderland Glass Centre – they were three jobs that saved the business.

“We also did the Arriva headquarters at Doxford. We started to get our name known locally and it developed from there.

“We were the Ryder Nicklin Partnership until 1997 then rebranded to Ryder. We thought we needed to get strong in public-sector work.

“Then we secured Cobalt (business park in North Tyneside) as a client and, apart from the hotel and NHS centre, we have done all the offices there. We are currently masterplanning the next phase.”

So why has the relationship between Thompson and Buchan been so fruitful?

“We complement each other as I’m an engineer-cum-businessman. I’m not trained as an architect but I’ve been around great architects for 20 years, so I have an understanding of what makes great architecture.

“It’s collaborative here – the culture of the firm is that design ideas are nurtured from the bottom up, and I was never excluded because I was not from an architectural background.”

Thompson says the talent development side to Ryder has been another big plus point for him.

“This is something that’s very dear to me now – we need to be encouraging people to come through who are way better than me at my job, and I take great satisfaction in doing that – even if they are leaving us to go and set up on their own.

“There are a number of people I’ve encouraged to do that. You need some natural wastage to keep growing the firm.

“We have a huge belief in nurturing people through, and we invest a lot in doing that.”

The identity of Ryder as a firm is very much caught up in its office base in Newcastle – the Generator Studios on Trafalgar Street which were home to generators for the city’s trams in years gone by.

Thompson recalls how the office move from Killingworth came about.

“It did not take long to sense there was an opportunity. We were looking for space and a developer asked us to do a residential scheme on this building.

“As soon as I walked in, I knew it would be great as an office. So we were the anchor tenant, and then Gardiner Richardson, Nathaniel Litchfield and Waterman came in.

“I think in terms of attracting staff, we would never move out of town now. With our other three offices, we had no debate whatsoever about being close to a motorway junction or anything like that.

“It has definitely raised our profile, being in the city centre. This development was unique in Newcastle when we came here.”

Two years ago, Ryder – through Thompson – put forward an idea for a new Tyne crossing, with a viaduct to run from Gateshead Stadium through the Ouseburn Valley, to relieve traffic congestion in the city centre.

It is this kind of radical thinking which really seems to energise Thompson – and he goes on to tell of Ryder’s work on high-speed rail.

The firm is currently working on proposals on behalf of UK Ultraspeed, the firm aiming to bring maglev (magnetic levitation) travel to the country. On a purely theoretical level at this point, he says they have thought about a whole different kind of infrastructure with no internal flights, and high-speed trains linking up centres of population.

He says: “We are doing studies around the country for UK Ultraspeed. We have looked at some locations around the UK for potential terminals, and the concept of Park and Ride schemes too. We have looked at the idea of banning all internal flights; with high-speed rail you can have a two-and-a-half hour journey from Glasgow to London

“With technology, we should be looking beyond what we’ve done in the past. As a region, we have a strong history in rail and we should be leading the way in the UK, thinking where we want to be in 20 years.

“It’s about places, how people use a place, and how they get in and out – that’s what we’ve got to think about.”

So what lies ahead for Ryder and for Thompson in what is a fairly uncertain time in any sector of the economy?

“We want to be thriving come the end of the recession. A lot of projects are going ahead. Big infrastructure projects that will bring real benefits not only to this region but to the country.

“The strategy we have as a firm at the moment is a three-year one to be recognised as a truly national player.

“We have offices in Glasgow, Liverpool, Newcastle and London now, and that investment has been rewarded and is continuing to provide opportunities to everyone we employ, to have the same opportunities as we (directors) had when we joined the firm, to take the business forward.”

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