Future Trends Survey offers scope

Fifty-six per cent of architects' practices expect their workload to increase or stay the same over the next three months according to the latest figures published by the RIBA in its Future Trends Survey.

Unsurprisingly many findings reflect the depressed state of the economy. However the survey does provide some interesting pointers to those looking to gain a competitive advantage.

The monthly survey was launched in January this year to monitor business and employment trends affecting the architects' profession. The latest results mark the end of the first quarter. Overall, 44 per cent of practices expect their workload to fall over the next three months, with larger practices showing greatest pessimism. Among those, half now expect a decline – up from 46 per cent in February. Only 13 per cent of all practices surveyed predict an upturn in business.

Adrian Dobson, Director of Practice at the RIBA, added, "The Government has consistently indicated that high value professional services in the creative industries are a key target for future export growth. The Future Trends Survey, however, reveals a worrying decline in the proportion of work coming from projects based overseas, which has fallen from 9 per cent in January 2009 to 5 per cent in March".

A greater number of individual architects now also claim to be under-employed. In January this affected 21 per cent of respondents. By March it had reached nearly a third.

The survey does offer encouragement to those prepared to scrutinise the detail, however. Over two-thirds (67 per cent) of practices now expect staff levels to remain constant over the next quarter, compared with 62 per cent in February, suggesting a modest improvement in salaried architects' employment prospects. The number of practices expecting staff numbers to be cut also decreased across the same period.

As alarm at the first signs of recession matures into more considered assessment, so has this been reflected in levels of optimism within the private housing and commercial business sectors. The proportion of respondents predicting that workloads across the next quarter would at least stay the same increased by 8 and 11 per cent respectively in the last month alone. Many practices also indicate that niche activities, such as residential care home commissions, conservation and small-scale domestic projects, are holding up well.

Ben Councell, Head of Sales at RIBA Enterprises, views the survey results as interesting. "Those who survive and prosper in the coming months will be those able to spot the traces of untapped opportunity. 'Lack of demand' is not the same as 'no demand', but there has surely never been a more crucial time to invest in marketing best practice and to learn how to stand out from the crowd".

RIBA Enterprises has launched a series of seminars, commencing on 4 June 2009, offering free advice and consultancy to companies targeting architects and specifiers. The aim of the workshops is to help clients identify and exploit new opportunities and strengthen their market positions.

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