DCA arm lands energy museum

DCA-B, the London subsidiary of Warwick product group DCA, has been appointed design and technical consultant on a 1.8m Millennium Commission project.

The project will see the consultancy work with the Richard Rogers Partnership to create an energy museum in Wandsworth’s Renue building. DCA-B will be responsible for the exhibition design and related engineering projects, which include a water-powered lift, solar panels and wind turbines. The graphic content of the project is yet to be determined.

DCA-B won the pitch days after launching officially as an independent subsidiary to parent group DCA. It has operated informally since the start of the year (DW 28 February).

“It is a good arrangement because we give DCA a foothold in London which it wouldn’t otherwise have, while we benefit from its workshops and engineering expertise,” says DCA-B managing director Tom Barker.

DCA-B specialises in interior, architectural and product design in addition to product and exhibition technology. The parent company will continue to specialise in industrial design.

Barker formerly headed product design in the Advanced Technology Group at Ove Arup & Partners. His deputy is architectural director Peter Sharrat, who joined from Short Ford Architects. The group has a further four employees, from parent group DCA. Between them the consultancies have a pool of 60 staff.

Barker expects to recruit six more staff in the next two years and stabilise turnover at 1m over the same period. He predicts a turnover of around 0.25m in the first year, with an initial growth of around 50 per cent per annum.

“I aim to generate about 25 per cent of our income from DCA’s clients and the other 75 per cent off our own backs,” says Barker.

Temporarily working from Primrose Hill, the group will move to London’s Scrutton Street next week. The site allows room for the expansion the new consultancy expects from projects such as the energy museum.

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