Nine years ago almost to the day, UK architecture firm HLM staged a management buyout of its American parent company, HLM Design International. It was a dramatic moment and brought the company back into the hands of Chris Liddle and nine of his fellow directors. It was also clearly good for the business: HLM was saved from receivership and has made a profit every year since the buyout; not necessarily a dramatic profit, but a profit nonetheless. The question is: how? Sitting down for breakfast with Building, Liddle is accompanied by his fellow director Richard O'Neil. The two men are strikingly different in appearance and attitude: Liddle, 62, is the stocky Yorkshireman, while O'Neil, 42, is more taciturn: think Jeremy Hunt without the permanently bewildered expression.
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