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Hyder Consulting has shut RPA, its QS arm, as part of a redundancy and restructuring programme intended to return the engineer to its 鈥渃ore business鈥�.

It has emerged that Hyder quietly closed the Cardiff-based QS on 24 April, making 22 staff redundant. It had bought it for 拢2.8m in 2007.

RPA鈥檚 two original directors, Ian Parfitt and Nick Soady, are understood to have been in talks to buy back the business since the start of the year, but failed to secure a deal.

They have now set up on their own under the firm鈥檚 original name, Richard Parfitt Associates, which Hyder does not own. In May, they agreed to complete the work RPA was engaged in as a subconsultant to the engineer.

A source close to the talks said RPA was vulnerable to the downturn because it had little public sector work and because large private sector clients, including Tesco, had cut their fees.

Parfitt said: 鈥淎m I disappointed? Yes, but mostly it鈥檚 disappointment for the staff.鈥�

Am I disappointed? Yes, but mostly it鈥檚 disappointment for the staff

Ian Parfitt, RPA

A source at RPA said: 鈥淭he business was sold to Hyder because it promised to invest for growth. That growth didn鈥檛 happen.鈥�

When Hyder bought RPA in 2007, it had 33 staff. By the time it closed, there were 22.

Russell Down, Hyder鈥檚 finance director, said: 鈥淭he property market in the UK has moved quite significantly and we have gone back to core operations. About 100 people from our UK business were made redundant; part of that was RPA.鈥�

The news is seen by some as an example of the dangers of QS firms joining large engineers.

Stephen Tandy, managing director at QS Pierce Hill, said: 鈥淢y view is QSs should always be independent if they are to look after clients鈥� interests properly. If you've run your own shop and you join a much bigger and more rigid organisation, I can imagine that could cause difficulties.鈥�