PLP to compensate rival architect for business taken when directors broke away

Imperial West view from the Westway at night by PLP Architecture

PLP Architecture is set to pay out £2.1m to rival architect Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, the former firm of its partners.

In accounts filed at Companies House the firm revealed that it would pay £2.1m in compensation to Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) for business which the partners took with them when they set up PLP.

The agreement in principle to compensate KPF was signed around the time the firm was set-up in September 2009 and ran until March 2012. The final settlement for £2.1m was then agreed in July this year.

According to its accounts PLP has already paid KPF £50,964 of the £2.1m in previous years.

The compensation agreement also cost PLP £744,012 in “professional costs” such as legal fees during set-up.

In the accounts the firm reported a pre-tax profit of £1.4m on a turnover of £12.6m for the year December 31 2011. In the five months to the end of December 2010 the firm reported a profit of £103,956 on turnover of £4.9m.

The firm also saw staff numbers grow from an average of 61 in 2010 to 90 during 2011.