It was in December last year that Mark Middleton touched down in drizzly London with a three-year strategy for Grimshaw in his suitcase. The firm’s global managing partner had taken the 24-hour flight from his home in Sydney to present the plan to his fellow partners, which he did a few days later.

He had reasons to be confident. Grimshaw’s New York office was forced to lay off more than half of its staff during the pandemic, but its headcount was now back up to more than 120. The UK office, the firm’s largest, had also come through a rough patch after the government axed plans for a third runway at Heathrow. For the practice, a world leader in infrastructure, this had been a bitter blow.

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