Documents filed with Companies House for the year ending 31 March 2025 showed another 4 per cent dip in fee income with overall turnover decreasing to just over £18.7 million. In 2024 the company posted an income of £19.5 million and, in the year before that, £20.3 million.

However operating profit at the Hackney Wick-based practice jumped from £3.66 million in 2024 to nearly £4.3 million in the last trading period – its highest ever operating profit.

Meanwhile staff numbers edged back up at the practice, which is ranked 21st in the AJ’s league table of the UK’s largest architectural firms. The average number of employees fell by 31 from 230 in 2023 to 199 people in 2024. But according to the March 2025 figures, the practice added four staff members to its workforce, taking its headcount to 204.

Bosses at HTA Design said the improved profitability – profit margin increased from 4 to 8 per cent – was thanks to the ‘managed reduction in overhead costs’ as well as ‘reduced energy usage, lower IT costs’ and ‘a very welcome reduction in insurance premiums’.

According to a statement accompanying the accounts, almost all of HTA’s income came from repeat business – making up an estimated 98 per cent of turnover.

Even so, its experience of volumetric modular construction has opened the door to work in Australia, where it is now ‘leading the design of several projects with the potential to establish a new studio locally’. It is understood this office could be up and running next year.

‘There’s been a very welcome reduction in insurance premiums’

Looking ahead, managing partner Simon Bayliss, who signed off on the accounts, said: ‘Growth will be primarily focused on increasing turnover and profitability – through improved fees and greater productivity – rather than expanding the overall size of the practice.

‘This strategy aims to restore some of the value lost in pay and rewards for architects and designers in the built environment in the last 20 years.managing partner

Bayliss added: ‘We continue to work hard to demonstrate the value we bring to projects – both to existing and new clients – to ensure we can command sufficient fees to achieve the very best outcomes, delivering design quality and technical robustness.’

Examples of HTA Design’s ongoing UK work include the revamp of the Alton estate in Roehampton, south-west London.

Approved by residents in October, the AJ100 Practice of the Year’s proposals for the Modernist 1950s-built estate include up to 650 new homes, a replacement parade of shops, new community buildings and green spaces.

The month earlier, HTA Design won the go-ahead for a student accommodation-led proposal to replace Skipton House, a 90s office in Elephant and Castle, south London, superseding a never-realised scheme by Piercy & Company.

HTA Design’s approved Skipton House scheme at Elephant and Castle (September 2025)