RIBA trends survey reveals architects' worsening fears

Architecture practices are increasingly concerned about their future workloads according to the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).

The latest RIBA’s monthly Future Trends Survey indicates that the number of practices expecting to win more work fell from 27% in July to 25%in August, whilst the number expecting a shrinking workload rose to 23%.

Fewer firms are expecting staffing levels to drop – 9% in August compared to 12% in July – but that the number expecting to hire more staff also fell by 3%.

Adrian Dobson, RIBA Director of Practice said: “Although the RIBA Future Trends Workload Index for August 2011 just remains in positive territory at +2, this represents a fall from +5 in July 2011 and indicates an overall drop in confidence levels this month about future workloads for the UK architects’ profession.

“The RIBA Future Trends Staffing Index is unchanged for the second consecutive month at -3 in August 2011, reinforcing anecdotal evidence of little activity in the employment market for salaried architects.  When asked about how the number of temporary staff employed will change over the next three months our practices where slightly more positive (balance figure +1). 22% of our respondents reported that they have personally been under-employed in August 2011, representing a significant improvement from the July figure of 27%.

“Practices based in London (balance figure +9) remain more optimistic about growth in workloads over the next quarter than those in the rest of the UK.  Practices in Scotland (balance figure -13) and Northern Ireland (balance figure -25) are least confident about future levels of work.”

Twenty-two per cent of architects surveyed reported that they had been under-employed in August, a reduction on July’s 27%.

Firms in the private housing sector took a similar view of their prospects in August to that expressed in July: Although 3% more practices said they anticipated a rising workload, the number of respondents expecting work to remain constant fell from 61% in July to 57% in August.    

Forecasts for the commercial sector were also largely unchanged, with the number of practices expecting workload to increase up to 16% - a marginal 1% rise on July.

Predictions for the public sector remain the most pessimistic. Just 5% of firms said they expected an increase in workload, compared to 6% in July. At the same time, 29% of practices said they thought their public sector workload would shrink.