Bjarke Ingels shame on you chant protestors at pro-union demonstration

Employees from Danish architecture studio BIG along with Unite union members have held a protest in London to demonstrate proposed layoffs at the firm.

Taking place earlier today outside the Broadgate offices of BIG, the group of 40 gathered to protest the redundancy process currently taking place at the studio.

According to the Unite union, 72 of the studio's 160-strong workforce are at risk of redundancy following the loss of a major project.

The demonstration aimed to encourage BIG to offer improved redundancy terms and meet with union officials to explore other options to redundancy.

Protestors joined in chants aimed at studio founder Bjarke Ingels and referencing the reported £7 million in dividends the company's shareholders received.

Chants included "Bjarke Ingels shame on you" and "Seven million Bjarke has stowed, give your workers what they're owed".

Speaking at the protest, a representative for Unite claimed that over 80 employees at BIG had joined Section of Architectural Workers – the architectural workers branch of the Unite union. However, he claimed that BIG had declined to meet representatives from the union.

"We couldn't reach out to every employee who's joined the union because it's been over 80," said the representative.

"This is one of the first architectural workplaces in the country to reach this kind of union density and yet the employer has repeatedly refused to meet with us and repeatedly refused to engage with what their employees want to talk about."

The representative also suggested that the option of BIG offering to relocate employees to other offices in Europe had not been discussed.

"This company is hiring, mass hiring at other offices within Europe, and yet they are trying to push through over 70 redundancies and the shortest possible timeline," he said.

Ahead of the protest the managing director of BIG's London firm, Henriette Helstrup, confirmed to Dezeen that the studio had lost a major project and was in the process of carrying out redundancies "in full accordance with UK guidelines and due process".

"It is correct that a major project in our London Studio has been terminated end of November last year due to circumstances beyond our control," Helstrup told Dezeen.

"The project employed roughly half the office and we immediately informed our entire team of the project termination. Our leadership team is engaging directly with those affected in a thoughtful and constructive manner, in full accordance with UK guidelines and due process."

BIG was founded by Danish architect Bjarke Ingels in Copenhagen in 2005. Today it has studios around the world, including in New York, Barcelona and London.

It is not the only major architecture firm to come under fire in recent weeks due to employee dismissals. Snøhetta was recently accused of laying off pro-union employees at its New York office.

The photography is by Tom Ravenscroft.

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