Architect Foster + Partners and consultant Turner & Townsend have become the latest UK built environment firms to halt work on projects in Russia.
Others to have announced pull-outs in recent days include David Chipperfield Architects, Zaha Hadid Architects, John McAslan & Partners, Aecom, and equipment maker JCB.
Foster + Partners, which had two projects in the country, issued a tweet saying it deplored the invasion of the Ukraine, and “as a result we have stopped work on all our projects in Russia”.
Turner & Townsend chairman Vincent Clancy said in a statement: “Our team in Russia has been an important part of our business for many years. They work alongside our global colleagues, primarily serving multinational organisations. It is therefore with great sadness that we have taken the decision to close our operations in Russia and begin the process of fully withdrawing from the market, effective from today.”
Outside the UK, high-profile designers including Switzerland’s Herzog & de Meuron and the Netherland’s MVRDV, UN Studio and Office of Metropolitan Architecture, Norway’s Snøhetta and Denmark’s Bjarke Ingels Group have halted work or released statements condemning the invasion.
