Doone stands down at Conran & Partners

Conran & Partners’ managing director Richard Doone is leaving after 25 years.

Doone will continue on a part-time basis for 12 months from February. During this time he will jointly manage the consultancy with Tim Bowder-Ridger, Conran & Partners’ current deputy managing director.

‘[Doone] will be there to guide and mentor [Bowder- Ridger] and will be partly responsible for some of the big projects, particularly in Asia,’ says Conran Group chief executive Roger Mavity.

‘We will miss him, but businesses do need new blood and energy, and this gives us the chance to think about the future structure of the management.’

Mavity describes the handover as ‘a gradual, evolutionary, amicable’ transition. He adds that it is ‘too early to tell’ whether the group will appoint
a new deputy managing irector after Bowder-Ridger takes over next year. Doone starts work on his own projects from next month.

‘The details of my future plans have yet to be finalised and I shall be working on these over the next few months, once I have completed my full-time commitment to Conran & Partners,’ he says. Bowder-Ridger joined Conran & Partners in 1997 from architect The Douglas Stephen
Partnership.