Engineering consultant aims to become the UK’s second largest design practice, overtaking Foster and Partners.

Consultant Atkins is trying to poach high-profile architects from rival firms in a bid to become the largest design practice in the UK.

The firm, which is the UK’s largest engineering consultant, is also considering buying a number of small architectural practices.

Atkins Design is planning to recruit about 80 architects to add to the 189 it employs. This would immediately make the firm the UK’s second largest design practice, overtaking Foster and Partners (see “The UK’s biggest architects”).

Several architects from leading practices, including Richard Rogers Partnership and Foster and Partners, have already joined Atkins.

Atkins director Andy Scott said that a team from the Leeds office of Carey Jones had been snapped up and confirmed that Atkins was hoping to establish itself as the leading architectural design practice in the country.

He said: “In our Midlands office we are looking to recruit 10 people and we are looking to recruit similar amounts in most of our regional offices.” Scott added that the firm was looking to redress the balance of architects to engineers. He said: “We want to have the same level of prowess in architecture that we have in engineering.”

Scott said the firm had a huge amount of work coming through and the move was a response to the demand in the market.

It is understood that senior figures at Atkins have been in talks with a high-profile figure from Alsop & Partners.

Atkins is currently working on the The Public, a £52m arts centre in West Bromwich, having taken over much of the work from Alsop. The scheme’s original designer, Alsop Architects, went into administration last October.

However, it is understood that it will have to compete with two other practices for the completion of the work, as the client consortium, which includes the council and quangos, is to put out a new design tender for the scheme.

This is not the first time Atkins has attempted to move into architecture. In the 1990s, the consultant went through a programme of acquiring the architectural departments of local councils.

An insider said that Atkins chief executive Keith Clarke had not ruled out setting aside a war chest for acquisitions.