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Architect Aukett Fitzroy Robinson said it is planning to acquire another business 鈥渨ithin a year鈥�, despite the collapse of merger talks with SMC two weeks ago.

The bullish stance is part of an emerging growth strategy at Aukett, which has created six director鈥檚 roles, filled by internal promotions, to support its planned expansion. The company is also to revise its turnover targets upwards as it approaches the five-year 拢25m target set by Nicholas Thompson, the chief executive, when he arrived at the firm less than three years ago.

It鈥檚 a long way from the turbulence at the time of the arrival of Thompson in 2005. The business was formed by a merger between his former company, Fitzroy Robinson, and Aukett. Aukett, then listed on the main stock exchange, reported a pre-tax loss of 拢1.2m in 2004 on a turnover of 拢11.8m.

The entity now is much more commercially thoughtful

Nicholas Thompson

Thompson said the business turned around because of increased commercial awareness. He said: 鈥淭he entity now is much more commercially thoughtful. I oversaw every appointment and fee agreement for a long time but now it鈥檚 now part of its make-up.鈥�

Thompson confirmed merger talks with SMC broke down because the companies could not agree 鈥渞espective values鈥�. He said: 鈥淭he hearts and minds had been dealt with. It only relied on a financial proposal. It would have been a good geographic and sector fit, but we鈥檝e drawn a line under it at the moment.鈥�

He said Aukett Fitzroy Robinson would look to buy to increase its sector coverage. It is particularly looking to expand in the hotel and green retail sectors. He said any deal would be a single purchase that could be fully integrated into the business, unlike the bolt-on deals that characterised SMC鈥檚 expansion.

It鈥檚 a long way from the turbulence at the time of the arrival of Nicholas Thompson in 2005

He said: 鈥淚鈥檝e known Stewart McColl for a long time, but I have a different business model. His plan was to add lots of fragments 鈥� there鈥檚 nothing wrong with that, but there were too many too quickly and SMC didn鈥檛 have the infrastructure to support them.鈥�

Thompson said despite City doubts over the wisdom of floating an architectural practice on the stock exchange, he was committed to Aukett鈥檚 future as a listed company.

He said: 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 incompatibility and I think it鈥檚 a myth that you have to work for shareholders and not design. Our future is as a listed company.鈥�