Profile: Paul Mitchell

Times are tough, but architectural firm The Harris Partnership has a strong order book. Suzan Uzel met chairman Paul Mitchell.

PAUL Mitchell is returning to his roots with one of his latest projects.

While growing up in the historic market town of Beverley, East Yorkshire, he took a summer job as a teen at the local tannery, where his father-in-law worked as chief chemist.

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Now, a £30m retail and leisure scheme is planned for the site where the tannery once operated.

“I’m very proud that we are on that scheme on the basis that it’s going to be the biggest scheme that has hit Beverley since Beverley Minster probably,” said lead architect on the project, Mr Mitchell, who was appointed chairman of The Harris Partnership last year.

The development, to be known as the New Flemingate, includes a cinema complex, hotel, office accommodation, restaurants, a new community hall and shops.

The Harris Partnership has also been working on the Broad Street Plaza scheme in Halifax, a £25m development programme being brought forward by Leeds-based property firm, the Gregory Group, the first phase of which has just been completed.

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Nearby, at the south end of Halifax, a separate project looks set to see The Pennine Shopping Centre demolished and re-built, and The Harris Partnership recently completed work on phase one of the £7m refurbishment of the restaurant area at Meadowhall shopping centre in Sheffield.

The architectural practice, which specialises in commercial development, has “some good projects” on for the next two years, said Mr Mitchell.

“But it’s not based on the local market and it’s not based on the smaller companies. It’s based on London funds.

“I think the majority of the Yorkshire developers have stopped developing to a large extent.

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“There are signs in London that things are going in the right direction and usually that takes a couple of years to filter through to local markets, particularly in Yorkshire. Hopefully, in two years’ time there will be more confidence.”

Mr Mitchell joined The Harris Partnership in 1991 as a director, having previously worked for the former John Brunton Partnership in Bradford. He became managing director and a majority shareholder in 1998, before taking on his role as chairman. Under his leadership, the practice, which was founded by John Harris in 1984, has expanded from a single office in Wakefield with 15 staff to four offices, adding Manchester, Reading and Milton Keynes, with more than 100 staff. It has among its clients kitchen supplier Magnet and DIY firms Wickes and B&Q.

The practice also has an associate company called Vector Design Concepts, which launched five years ago and specialises in landscaping, interior design, 3D graphics and animation and marketing services that support the promotional strategies of developers’ schemes.

When Mr Mitchell joined The Harris Partnership, it had just secured its first contract with budget supermarket Aldi.

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“It looked as though it might be going places even though it was ’91 recession time,” recalled Mr Mitchell. “It sort of took off and we grew the business.”

The Harris Partnership was enlisted to carry out the architectural work for Aldi’s stores in Yorkshire and then subsequently in the Midlands, before expanding to cover five regions.

The deal gave the practice “credibility in the marketplace”, said Mr Mitchell. “They introduced us to various developers over the years which we have added on to our client list.”

Today, the firm’s turnover is around £5m – it has been “about static” for the last three years – and the business is profitable, confirmed Mr Mitchell, though he declined to comment on exact figures.

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Market conditions, he said, are tough. “In the construction industry, they are not looking good. I think there’s pressures on the major contractors. I think there’s very little spending going on from developers from a commercial side and to a large extent from the public sector side as well so I think it’s going to be hard times this next year.

“I think there will be some contractors going bust and that will have a cascade effect on the rest of the construction industry.”

The banks, said Mr Mitchell, need to release finance to the construction sector to stimulate growth.

“They are restricting finance in the construction industry, they see anything to do with the construction industry as toxic.

“Certain banks have shut up shop completely.

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“They [the Government] have tried to encourage the banks to lend but they will only lend to who they want to anyway,” he said.

“When they see that money can be made back in the development field they will go straight back into it but at the moment they are just not comfortable with it and they have got a lot of investment in schemes that they themselves have downgraded the value of.

“They have got negative equity so they are very uncomfortable to lend on anything else.”

But The Harris Partnership’s finances are strong, he said, adding that its approach is helping it win business.

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“Because we are in the commercial side it’s all about building relationships with individuals in companies. It’s making sure they are always satisfied with what we deliver and the quality of what we deliver in terms of information to move these projects forward.”

He added: “There’s been quite a few architectural companies that have been suffering over the last year and I think some of the work we’ve picked up is on the back of one of two practices substantially reducing in size leaving us more at the top of the market than we were perhaps five to ten years ago.”

Retail, which is a specialist area for The Harris Partnership, is its strongest sector, he said.

“We have a reasonable proportion of retail. That was the core and we’ve built on that with offices, leisure, regeneration schemes, hotels.

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“We are seen as one of the top experts in the out-of and edge-of-town retail sector. And that is strong, though not as strong as it was.”

Mr Mitchell said: “If you look at all the out-of-town retail parks, a lot of them are getting to an age where they need refurbishment. Quite a few of them are ones we built 30 years ago. So we are regenerating them. They are going upmarket.

“They aren’t just a shed with a sign on the front, they’ve got lots of glass, they’ve got canopies on the front.

“We have been going round upgrading quite a lot of the retail centres and we are doing at the moment and again it’s for the London funds.

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“They are the ones who have bought all these retail parks over the years.”

The food manufacturing sector is also active, with The Harris Partnership working on a new production unit for sweet giant Haribo in Pontefract and a major redevelopment project for Princes Foods in Bradford.

Paul Mitchell Factfile

Title: Chairman of The Harris Partnership

Date of birth: 24/02/1956

Place of birth: Manchester

Education: BA and Dip Arch in architecture at the Leeds School of Architecture, now part of Leeds Metropolitan University

Last book read: XO by Jeffery Deaver

Car driven: Aston Martin

First job: Helping out on a farm in my teens

Favourite holiday destination: France

Favourite song: Fix You by Coldplay

Most proud of: The business and the way it has grown over the period I’ve been there.