“They need us more than we need them”. My blood boils when I hear this delusional nonsense repeated by politicians who should know better. It doesn’t matter how many cars Audi, Mercedes, Porsche and BMW sell into the UK, they sell a hell of a lot more to the rest of the world, and let’s not forget that 44.6% of our trade is with the EU. The Brexit negotiations will dispel some of these fantasies and highlight our reduced place in the world. The UK will be poorer, smaller and, I fear, meaner.

Our post war track record pre-Common Market was not exactly a glorious one. Anyone wishing to understand the chronic inability of the UK’s managerial classes to invest long term when left to their own devices should read Corelli Barnet’s “Audit of War”. This nation has always wanted its jam today, never tomorrow. Recently we have been partly sheltered from such a tendency by belonging to the world’s largest trading bloc, and consequently through managerial decisions taken by international companies that have been located here for that reason. This will most likely change, and I fear the bargain basement economy that will follow.

In this column, my colleagues Andrew Whalley and Keith Brewis have already outlined Grimshaw’s nurturing of a linked chain of international design offices balancing local knowledge with international expertise. This gives us resilience and agility. Our UK office has benefited through the lower value of the Sterling, both in terms of cash held in other currencies, and the increased value of Euro-based fees earned in London (currently through projects in Paris, Venice and Tirana). These are useful gains in a climate where our UK university and commercial clients are proceeding with increasing caution.

Developing a genuinely networked international design offer is not easy. In the early days of our New York and Melbourne operations there was never any question of our sharing a single ethos because these offices were run by people that had been an integral part of the London team. As time progresses, it has become harder, and we are devoting increasing amounts of energy to the glue that holds us together.

‘Going global’ has so far turned out to have been a wise insurance for our practice against the business repercussions of current UK politics.

In this vein I have just returned from a five month stint working in our 100 strong Sydney office. Our partner there, the highly talented Andrew Cortese, is the only member of our 17 strong Partner group that joined directly at this level from outside the practice. Having grown up with the people currently pulling the strings within Sydney architecture and planning circles, this has given him an advantage as our local representative over our international competitors such as RSH+P and Foster & Partners who jet in and out, but design in London. However, this model requires constant work reasserting core values. It’s very easy for someone of my years to forget that Part 1 Architects currently joining the practice weren’t even born when Waterloo International was finished.

‘Going global’ has so far turned out to have been a wise insurance for our practice against the business repercussions of current UK politics. I may be overly pessimistic in respect of Brexit. A weaker pound might be sufficient to cancel out new European tariffs, and the need to go it alone could spur British businesses to sharpen up. However, I fear that this will require a huge turnaround in our country’s engrained sense of entitlement which could take a generation. Many Brexit voters may not be that patient.