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Ten Davis Langdon partners have left the company or have been put on notice over the past few weeks in a major shrinking of senior staff that follows its 2010 takeover by US engineering giant Aecom.

All those axed are from the UK. Some began leaving the company around three weeks ago, while others are still temporarily there, ºÚ¶´ÉçÇø understands.

Davis Langdon did not comment but it is thought that some will go to rivals, and the exits include redundancies. One insider said that the decision was a response to a lack of work.

It is understood that those leaving were all salaried partners at Davis Langdon prior to the Aecom takeover. The firm now has around 180 partners or directors under the new structure.

A number of high-profile departures have taken place at Davis Langdon since its acquisition in August last year by Aecom for £204m.

Richard Baldwin, who had been lined up to run the European and Middle Eastern arm of the business, left to become head of development at Derwent, while senior tax partner Peter Kelland left to join Gleeds, it was revealed in November.

In December EC Harris announced that it had poached Richard Taylor, who had led the UK, Europe and the Middle East retail sector. Simon Rawlinson, who worked for the consultant for 15 years and was head of professional development, also left for EC Harris.

Davis Langdon has also sent some of its staff back to Bahrain after flying them out to Dubai last week - despite advice from the Foreign Office not to.

It evacuated employees from the kingdom on Wednesday last week after troops used force to clear the capital Manama’s central square of protesters, reportedly leaving at least three people dead. Some staff are now back in Bahrain. It is thought that they returned over the weekend.