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In the institute’s latest Future Trends Survey, which examines the health of the industry, figures from the RIBA once again present a bleak outlook for practices over the next three months, as architects continue to expect falling workloads and staffing levels.
Planning delays are one of the biggest challenges architects currently face, according to January data from the institute.
Adrian Malleson, RIBA’s director of economic research and analysis, said analysis of the industry’s monthly indicator marks “the longest period of pessimism since the survey began in 2009” as architects expect workloads to fall for a seventh consecutive month.
The organization attributed the painful trend to ongoing challenges, including delays in planning systems.
Rising interest rates and a weakening UK economy also contributed to the decline, the RIBA said.
Over the next three months, 26% of clinics expect workload to decrease, while only 18% expect workload to increase and 52% expect workload to remain roughly stable.
“Regionally, the picture remains mixed,” the RIBA noted, with London’s workload index entering “positive territory” after three months of pessimism, the north remaining positive, and Wales, the West , Midland and East Anglia all maintained negative values, while those in the south remained negative. England’s prospects deteriorated to an even more negative level.
The outlook for smaller practices on workloads, while still negative, has improved slightly. But losses deepened at mid-sized and large clinics.
However, more small clinics expect staffing levels to fall over the next three months, while medium and large clinics expect staffing levels to increase, according to the RIBA.
Overall, 10% of agencies expect to lay off employees, 8% expect to hire more staff, and 83% expect no changes.
Malleson says architects’ workloads have been hit by ‘p’Inflation continues to be above target and customers are struggling to access finance,” while smaller businesses continue to be affected by underperformance in the housing sector.
He added: “These problems are exacerbated by ongoing planning delays. Many practices have highlighted failures in the planning system that delay project progress, reduce practice income and hinder the UK’s economic prosperity.
“Practice are also reporting downward pressure on fees, with some reporting domestic clients seeking free early design and planning advice.”
The silver lining, Malleson said, is that architects can hope to see construction output price inflation fall “if consumer price index (CPI) inflation continues its downward trend.”
He insisted that falling interest rates and hopes of the economy emerging from recession provide some reason for optimism.
The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that construction output fell by 1.3% between October and December 2023, pushing the UK into a technical recession.
Construction analyst Glenigan’s project starts figures for the three months to the end of January were in line with the ONS’s figures, which were down 22% on the previous quarter. Analysts said the southeast was the worst-affected region, with a 25% drop.
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