TitlePKS, Quantity Surveying Since 1860.; Catalogue of an exhibition held by the Irish Architectural Archive with Patterson Kempter & Shortall, held at the RIAI, 8 Merrion Square, February 1992. Includes brief history of the company.
History/Biography: The founder of the practice was Benjamin Thomas Patterson (1837-1907), who qualified with a degree in civil engineering from Trinity College, Dublin in 1859 and who had worked with one of the leading architectural practices of the day, Deane and Woodward. With the modernisation and increasing standardisation of building practices he recognised the need for the establishment of a professional service in the area of costing buildings, primarily in the preparation of quantities. Having set up offices in Great Brunswick Street, then moving on to 17 Kildare Street in 1869, the venture proved to be a fruitful one. Hence, a partnership was created in 1872 with John Kempster (d. 1918), an engineer whose father had been County Surveyor for Galway. Together they built up a thriving business, handling many of the major building projects of their time.
After Patterson’s retirement in 1904 and death in 1907, Ernest John Anthony, who had been with the firm since 1898, became a partner with Kempster. Following Kempster’s death in 1918, Anthony carried on the business, retaining the name of Patterson & Kempster, until he too joined in a partnership with James Gordon Aston in 1948 and in 1953 the offices were moved to 99 Lower Baggot Street. Mr. Anthony died in 1955, leaving Mr. Aston as sole partner until 1962 when a further alliance was created with Norman Fauvin Newell. For the first time, the name of the company changed in May 1970, when it merged with the firm of Francis D. Shortall & Company, becoming Patterson Kempster & Shortall, known usually as PKS.
In the late 1990s, PKS merged with the international surveying firm Davis Langdon to become Davis Langdon PKS.
