Mukaab mega-cube skyscraper has also been shelved<\/a> pending a review. The AJ understands the 400 x 400m office, homes and leisure block, originally designed by AtkinsR\u00e9alis and more recently involving AECOM, will be replaced by a much more modest proposal without \u2018the world\u2019s biggest AI-powered indoor screen\u2019.<\/p>\nThe tide goes out<\/p>\n
The sinking of BIG\u2019s resort on the Red Sea has had a direct effect back in London. Henriette Helstrup, BIG\u2019s London partner and managing director, confirmed to the AJ that the planned redundancies followed the \u2018unexpected termination of our largest project in November\u2019 \u2013 a huge scheme which employed half the studio.<\/p>\n
Helstrup said BIG had \u2018immediately\u2019 shared news of the income stream loss with all staff, adding that two months later all employees remain \u2018in employment and continue to be paid in full while we work through a formal and lawful consultation process\u2019. She added that the company was focused on \u2018navigating this situation responsibly and on supporting our colleagues through this transition\u2019.<\/p>\n
Still, this month\u2019s protests show that many \u2018BIGsters\u2019 (as employees are nicknamed) do not feel supported. Of the 203 staff at BIG\u2019S London office, there are plans to cut 72 from 142 roles.<\/p>\n
The AJ understands that BIG had employed a large number of overseas architects on permanent contracts and that many of those now threatened with redundancy had visas tied to the firm and the project.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Unite will publicly hold BIG to account until these workers receive fair and decent treatment\u2019<\/p>\n
Ahead of the demonstration, Unite the Union heavily criticised the treatment of foreign workers employed at BIG\u2019s London office and claimed the company\u2019s consultation process had been \u2018marred by critical failures\u2019, including a lack of transparency over the scale of the planned cuts. It is understood BIG, which denies these claims, had been forced to restart an earlier consultation process last month. Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: \u2018BIG\u2019s behaviour towards its staff is nothing short of disgusting [and is an attempt to] protect profits.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Unite will publicly hold BIG to account until these workers receive fair and decent treatment.\u2019<\/p>\n
A warning to others<\/p>\n
Echoing those criticisms during the 3 February demonstration, a Section of Architectural Workers (SAW) representative told the crowds assembled in the rain outside BIG\u2019s office: \u2018This is a warning for others. If you think you can put 70 of your employees out of a job, shame on you. [And] think of the damage to your reputation.\u2019<\/p>\n
Speaking anonymously to the AJ during the demo, a BIG employee said the protest had been intended to send a message to \u2018the entire industry\u2019 as well as those facing job losses.<\/p>\n
They said: \u2018We\u2019ve joined the union to make sure BIG recognises our rights, because there\u2019s been a lot happening in the office that we simply disagree with about how things have been handled.\u2019<\/p>\n
An architect from another practice said they had joined the BIG demonstration to shine a spotlight on the \u2018hiring and firing culture [in architecture where] people are not treated with appropriate respect.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/BW-20260203_130726-scaled.webp.webp\")
<\/p>\n
\u2018Considering the difficulties of the profession at the moment, we have to unionise to get some kind of power, because we were at the very bottom end of the food chain,\u2019 they added.<\/p>\n
Demonstrators also pointed to a perceived lack of action by the RIBA. Naming the institute, a SAW member asked those gathered: \u2018Where are the people that stand up for standards in our industry? They\u2019re not here. Because they\u2019re never here.\u2019<\/p>\n
In response, RIBA president Chris Williamson said: \u2018We recognise that all architects are currently working in a difficult environment. All RIBA-chartered practices must adhere\u202fto our Employment Policy Guide and must, of course, comply with UK employment legislation.\u2019<\/p>\n
What now?<\/p>\n
At the time of writing, BIG was still in consultations with staff, at least 90 of whom had joined SAW\/Unite in response to the threat of job cuts. Before the planned layoffs, fewer than 10 BIG employees had been union members, the AJ understands.<\/p>\n
So, could the BIG \u2018incident\u2019 prompt wider unionisation across the profession? Paul Chappell, director of 9B Careers, says that BIG and its employees certainly aren\u2019t alone. The recruitment agency founder said he had heard of \u2006\u2018a number of other projects in the Middle East slowing down and leading to redundancies elsewhere\u2019.<\/p>\n
But what alternatives to job cuts are there when workloads suddenly dry up? Chappell told the AJ: \u2018Losing a major project, particularly one of significant scale, inevitably creates a sudden gap in workload. In that context, acting early to rebalance the size of a practice can be the more responsible long-term decision, even if it feels harsh in the moment.<\/p>\n
The alternative is often a slow decline [and] in some cases, practices then feel pressured to bid at unsustainably low fees, just to keep people busy, which ultimately harms the entire profession. None of this diminishes the human impact of redundancies and it is clearly devastating for those directly affected. But, if the profession wants to tackle chronic underpayment and instability, it also has to accept that practices must be run as sustainable businesses.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018Unfortunately, a hard line has been drawn in the sand\u2019<\/p>\n
The financial ramifications of the slowdown in the Middle East are becoming more evident in company reports. AECOM, which only signed a contract to work on the Mukaab in November, revealed a 42 per cent collapse in its Middle East income<\/a> (around \u00a346 million) in accounts for the year ending 3 October 2025. A drop also appears in Gensler\u2019s latest accounts. The Line masterplanner\u2019s revenues from work in the Middle East fell from \u00a324.4 million to \u00a319.1 million for the year ending 31 March 2025.\u00a0 However, in a statement with the accounts, co-managing principal Duncan Swinhoe said Gensler remained optimistic, having entered a \u2018substantial confidential contract\u2019 \u2013 also in the Middle East. If it comes off, that project will be worth \u00a3216 million overall.\u00a0<\/p>\nYet the AJ understands some staff at Gensler had already been let go because of the slowdown in work on the NEOM project. Gensler\u2019s London office declined to comment on this.<\/p>\n
Speaking before the demonstration, former RIBA president Angela Brady hoped a deal could be reached. She said: \u2018[All] RIBA chartered practices should respect their staff, their work-life balance and mental health, particularly in relation to the \u201chire and fire culture\u201d that threatens our profession. It would be advisable for BIG\u2019s London management team to listen to the union, for a fair and reasonable outcome.\u2019<\/p>\n
Whatever Brady\u2019s view, Helstrup insisted that BIG has \u2018acted in good faith throughout [the project cancellation] and with the intention of minimising job losses, wherever possible\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She added that BIG was \u2018regrettably not in a position to match\u2019 SAW and Unite\u2019s demands for six months\u2019 voluntary redundancy. \u2018Unfortunately,\u2019 she said, \u2018a hard line has been drawn in the sand.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In late November Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) was informed that a \u2018major\u2019 resort it was working on had…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,28030,1120,96,102982,40680,5386,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-432309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-big","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-neom","tag-redundancies","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/red-20260203_131059-scaled.webp.webp\")
<\/p>\n