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Newcastle architecture firm on song following fruitful investment period

Architecture practice The ID Partnership (IDP) is looking to create ten, new North East jobs after reaching the end of a successful investment period, which saw the Newcastle-headquartered firm reopen its London office.

In 2012, the company worked with regional fund management firm NEL Fund Managersto bring in a £150,000 investment from the Finance For Business North East Growth Fund.

IDP required the capital to support a planned programme of business development work both inside and outside the region.

Since then, the Newcastle-headquartered firm has widened its range of in-house expertise to cover all aspects of development, including architects, interior designers, urban designers, technologists, planners and project managers, to enable it to take on more aspects of the work it wins.

IDP now has a 30-strong team on which to call, and it is looking to create another ten posts in the North East in the medium term.

As well as reopening its London office, it has extended its work around the UK, with the M62 corridor, the Midlands, the Oxford and Cambridge areas being key areas of growth.

Established as Ian Darby Partnership in Newcastle in 1989, the practice has been responsible for many landmark projects across the North East, including the Sage Group plc headquarters in Newcastle Great Park, Northumbria University’s Squires Building and the Tyne Staiths regeneration scheme in Gateshead.

The 2012 investment was the second time that the company had worked with NEL, with a previous £100,000 investment being brought in in 2009.

Mark Massey, managing partner at ID Partnership’s Newcastle practice, says :“The years immediately after the credit crunch brought significant challenges for anyone within the construction industry, but despite this, we knew we had real opportunities to grow in an improving market if we could source the capital required to support our plans.

“Going back to NEL for a Growth Fund investment gave us the capacity to reinvest in the business, to retrain and broaden the team, and to seek out the right kind of opportunities around the UK, and we’re really reaping the benefits of it now.

“IDP is now well set to stay on this upward curve, and to keep creating new roles in the North East as a result, and the platform that the Growth Fund investment provided has been central to putting us in this position.”

Lindsey Grieves, portfolio executive at NEL Fund Managers, adds: “The IDP team presented us with a clear vision of how they wanted to develop the business, and to see how these plans have been so well realised must be immensely satisfying for them.

“Using investment capital to support strategic development plans can make a huge difference to any company’s capacity to grow, and we’ll be watching IDP’s future progress with great interest.”