BDP snaps up stadium specialist Pattern

BDP has acquired specialist sports architect Pattern Design – the practice delivering Everton FC’s new £505 million waterfront stadiumThe move, which will see the 40-strong stadium expert operate under the banner BDP Pattern, pushes BDP closer to the top spot of the AJ100 rankings, more than halving the gap with the UK’s current largest employer of architects, Foster + Partners.According to the latest AJ100 data, BDP was just 30 qualified architects behind Fosters in the annual league table. It is understood that London-based Pattern Design currently has around 20 ARB-qualified architects on its books and that they will all transfer across to BDP.The price tag for the deal will not be revealed until BDP publishes its next accounts. However, it has been confirmed that Pattern Design founder Dipesh Patel, who was project architect on Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium while at Arup Associates, has become a principal at BDP.The 12-year-old practice is the latest to join BDP’s growing global stable and follows the purchase of Toronto-based architect Quadrangle in 2019.Pattern’s projects include the Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, which completed in 2014, and two of the Qatar FIFA World Cup 2022 venues.BDP’s chief executive, John McManus, who oversaw the acquisition ahead of his retirement later this year, claimed the move would create a ‘significant player in the global sports sector’.BDP has already worked on a number of famous sporting venues, including Wimbledon All England Lawn Tennis Club and Aintree Racecourse, while it recently gained approval for the expansion of the Red Rose grandstand at Emirates Old Trafford for Lancashire County Cricket Club.Earlier this year the government approved Pattern’s plans for the new Everton ground on the Grade II-listed Bramley-Moore Dock.Pattern and New York practice MEIS architects submitted an application for the club’s new home at the end of 2019, although MEIS was later dropped from the delivery of the project.Pattern made a number of alterations to the scheme last summer. These were not enough to stop Historic England from objecting to the proposals, saying they would still cause harm to the significance of the ‘exceptional’ docks.Citing the ‘national implications’ of the approval for the 52,888-capacity ground, Historic England had hoped housing secretary Robert Jenrick would step in to make the final decision.But in March the club received written confirmation from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government that Jenrick would not be intervening.