Architects ‘scrabble’ for jobs as workloads plummet industry-wide

Over 100 architects are vying for an interior design job that could be worth just £200,000, in the latest indication of the dearth of work in the sector.

The BBC confirmed that it had received over 100 expressions of interest in providing ‘workplace design’ services for the Broadcasting House development in central London, which carries a fee of between £200,000 and £500,000. Andrew Ashbury, programme manager for the scheme, described the response as ‘extraordinary.’

Industry sources told Building that several high-profile practices had applied for the job, including the Office for Metropolitan Architecture. One architect bidding for the scheme said: ‘We’re all scrabbling for the same jobs. The competition is intense out there, and there are fewer and fewer jobs.’

As workloads continue to fall in the civils sector, contractors are urging the government to provide more clarity on its accelerated spending on infrastructure.

The Civil Engineering Contractors Association’s (CECA) latest workload trends survey is the gloomiest so far, with over 50% of firms reporting a fall in workloads in the final quarter of 2008 compared to the same period a year earlier. And 59% reported reduced order books for the same period.

Rosemary Beales, director or CECA told Contract Journal: ‘It’s the worst survey we’ve had without a doubt. What we need to help bolster confidence is a clarity from the government that it is doing everything it can to speed up infrastructure work and a clear indication as to what that is going to be.’

In related news, the newly-formed UK Contractors Group is planning a survey of its members to gauge whether the £3bn of public spending the government is bringing forward is reaching contractors’ order books.

UKCG director Stephen Ratcliffe warned that although many firms could survive 2009 and those on public frameworks could survive 2010, he’s concerned that ‘in 2011 everyone falls off the edge of a cliff’ due to the lack of new work.

These concerns were echoed in a Building feature on the subject published this week. With over £9.5bn of PFI projects put on hold due to a lack of private finance, industry commentators recommended a re-think of this method of procurement.

‘Not only has the government got to put the money up, but it has got to make the measures for delivery quicker,’ said Richard Whittington, head of construction at KPMG.

Michael Ankers, chief executive of the Construction Products Association, argued that the government should underwrite lending on any PFI project ‘that is floundering owing to the inability to get funding … they ought to have underpinning from public funds to keep them on track.’