黑洞社区

It鈥檚 hard to imagine Lee Polisano getting into an argument with anybody. The president of PLP Architecture has a warm, engaging manner and speaks softly in a gentle accent that reveals his east coast American upbringing. The faintest hint of a smile plays at the corners of his mouth.

But this is the same Lee Polisano who prompted the biggest row in the architecture community in 2009, when he announced that he was leaving his post as head of the US giant Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates鈥� (KPF) London office to set up shop on his own, taking four of the firm鈥檚 partners with him - and a sizable number of its clients to boot. In short, this apparently gentle soul caused one hell of a ruckus.

So what led Polisano and his fellow escape artists to leave KPF? After all, 2009 was hardly the most welcoming of economic times in which to launch any new business, let alone a new architecture studio. And four years on, just how well is PLP performing?

Polisano describes the split from KPF as 鈥渧ery acrimonious鈥�. Polisano and his partners ended up taking some of KPF鈥檚 biggest projects with them, including major schemes for Heron and Land Securities, which led to a legal tussle over compensation. An agreement in principle to compensate KPF was signed in 2009 around the time PLP was set up, but the final settlement was only agreed in July 2012 when PLP said that it would pay KPF 拢2.1m.

Polisano must have wanted out pretty badly, and says that he had grown tired of the corporate atmosphere at KPF. 鈥淚 think that we just felt for personal and professional reasons that we had outgrown the situation,鈥� says Polisano. 鈥淚t had just reached the point where we weren鈥檛 enjoying it anymore. We had grown culturally apart from our partners in New York, not in an adversarial way but in a philosophical way.鈥�

Polisano confirms that PLP has now paid off the 拢2.1m in full and the firm鈥檚 finances seem to be in good shape. In the last set of accounts filed with Companies House, PLP reported that at the end of 2012 it had net assets of almost 拢1m, compared with a deficit of around 拢300,000 at the end of 2011. PLP鈥檚 turnover was down slightly over the period, from 拢12.6m to 拢10.8m, but pre-tax profits were up, from 拢1.4m to 拢1.5m.

London is enjoying a remarkable resurgence at the moment in terms of inward investment and a lot of that is coming into property

Indeed, PLP is now working on a number of very high profile projects that will have an impact on London鈥檚 skyline for years to come. Famously, while at KPF Polisano worked on the stalled Pinnacle tower in the City - a scheme he describes as 鈥渁 product of its time鈥� and on which a spokesperson for PLP confirms the company is working on - and when he left he took Land Securities鈥� Nova Victoria and the Heron Plaza with him. Now other major central London projects have been added to the mix, with PLP appointed to work on the redevelopment of Sampson House and Ludgate House (currently home to 黑洞社区) on the South Bank, the redevelopment of the Shell Centre further up the river and the Imperial West scheme for Imperial College London. PLP has also started working on its first commissions overseas, with work on a new port for the Qatari government and significant opportunities in China, where Polisano says he is considering establishing a full-time base.

鈥淟ondon is enjoying a remarkable resurgence at the moment in terms of inward investment and a lot of that is coming into property, not just as holding assets but as ways of creating and preserving wealth for investors,鈥� says Polisano. 鈥淭hat has a knock-on effect in terms of benefiting people like us. We鈥檙e entering a period when we鈥檙e going to be very busy.鈥�

The range of different projects that PLP is working on is also striking. While at KPF, Polisano was famous for his work on commercial buildings. Now, however, he and the team are engaged on a huge range of different types of building, from high-end residential projects in Mayfair to social and student housing, as well as major mixed-use and civic projects. 鈥淥ur history was all commercial,鈥� says Polisano. 鈥淏ut as soon as I left, people started calling me asking me to do things that they鈥檇 never have asked me to do before. I think that [previously] we were identified as part of a large American corporate entity and therefore they thought of us as only being able to do certain things.鈥�

PLP has grown steadily in headcount, from 90 employees in 2011 to 100 at the end of 2012. Polisano says that at the end of 2013 the company employed 130 people and were continuing to hire. However, whatever Polisano鈥檚 ambitions to grow PLP, it is clear that it will be done in a measured way. He is keen that the practice continues to expand abroad, but says that it will only do so in a way that doesn鈥檛 put jobs at risk back home. 鈥淵ou have a responsibility to people and their families to make the business sustainable,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e [the partners] have always worked internationally and we have a lot of interest in continuing to do that. But we鈥檝e purposefully done it in really small steps.鈥�

The strategy, therefore, is to build a sustainable business in the UK - currently almost exclusively in London - and only to venture abroad once sufficient surplus has been generated to cover the risks involved. 鈥淓verything you do outside of [the UK] has a higher risk profile,鈥� says Polisano. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not based on English law, you鈥檙e no longer just competing against other great British architects, there鈥檚 a currency risk and people have different ideas about when they should pay you 鈥� I think we鈥檙e at a point now where we鈥檙e able to participate more in that risk. We have new projects in India and Kuwait and we鈥檙e looking at things in Qatar and New York. We鈥檙e starting to expand internationally now.鈥�

Clearly Polisano calls the shots in terms of the broad strategy and direction that PLP takes, but he says that he now spends 80% of his time in the studio as a practicing architect, which he describes as 鈥渁 total shift from my former firm鈥�. Indeed, Polisano says that he tries to keep out of the financial side of running PLP as much as possible. 鈥淲e鈥檝e never set a target, although our financial guy does and he has a green line that goes like that,鈥� he says, describing an upwards trajectory in the air with his hand. 鈥淲e try to hit the line, but I just know that he keeps on moving it.鈥�

So the last four years have been tough, but Polisano is clearly satisfied with the progress that PLP has made. He鈥檚 also far happier than he was at KPF. As sole shareholder, the risks involved in running the business rest entirely on his shoulders - he has, quite literally, bet his house on the firm鈥檚 success, using it as security against PLP鈥檚 bank debts - but that is more than compensated for by the fact that he is his own boss. He says: 鈥淪ince I left my old practice, even when we were really struggling in the early days and having all our legal problems, I鈥檝e never woken up unhappy.鈥�