The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has published the findings of its latest Future Trends Survey, a monthly report of business and employment trends affecting the architects’ profession.
February sees the profession’s outlook for future work become positive after three months of a gradually improving but negative outlook.
February’s RIBA Workload Index rose seven balance points to +5, following January’s figure of -2.
A positive balance indicates an overall expectation among architects that workloads will increase in the coming three months.
Twenty-nine per cent of architects’ practices anticipate an increase in workloads over the next three months, while 23% expect a decline. Forty-seven per cent expect workloads to remain stable.
All but one region has seen an improvement in outlook, with most now expecting growing workloads.
The outlook across all four monitored work sectors has improved, with rising workloads now expected in both the residential and commercial sectors.
Nevertheless, current workloads remain lower than they were a year ago. The average practice workload has decreased by 10% compared with twelve months ago.
The Sectors section of our Directory includes our Marketing to Architects feature (sponsored by ArchiSpec:d), which looks at targeting the sector, key media channels and events, and has access to our downloadable database of 1,200+ UK practices
At +4, the RIBA Permanent Staffing Index shows that, on balance, practices intend to recruit additional staff. However, on average, staff levels are reported to be around 6% lower than 12 months ago.
Commentary received from practices in February gives a mixed picture.
Many describe a challenging market, hindered by client hesitancy, raised interest rates, planning delays, strong fee competition, an increased regulatory burden, and upcoming increases in stamp duty and employer NICs.
In such a market, some practices report difficulty gaining sufficient work of sufficient value to maintain current staffing levels and ensure practice viability.
Other practices, however, give a more optimistic assessment, with reports of more enquiries, full order books for the year, new growth sectors, and an overall strong start to the year.