The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) today announces the April 2009 results of its monthly Future Trends Survey, marking the start of the second quarter monitoring business and employment trends affecting the architects' profession.

April's survey results present the most significant improvement in terms of forecasted workload since the survey started; only 34 per cent of practices were expecting a decrease in workload compared to 44 per cent in March. Practices predicting an increase in workload also rose from 13 per cent in March to 18 per cent in April; a trend exhibited particularly by small and solo practitioners, whose expectations for work to increase rose by 6 per cent (from 14 per cent in March to 20 per cent in April). A greater number of practices are also less likely to be underemployed, with 72 per cent in April compared to 69 per cent in March stating that they weren't personally underemployed.

There have been modest improvements for workload predictions across the private housing and commercial sectors, with 12 and 13 per cent (respectively) expecting an increase in April, compared to just 8 and 5 per cent in March (respectively). More practices expect their workload from the public sector to remain constant, with 63 per cent in April and 56 per cent in March.

In terms of redundancies and staff retention, 57 per cent of all practices expected staff levels to remain constant over the next three months, compared to 67 per cent in February, reflecting changes in the number of architects employed in practices. The number of practices expecting staff numbers to be cut increased from 31 per cent in March to 35 per cent in April; 8 per cent of practices expected an increase in staff, compared to just 2 per cent in March.

The statistical analysis of the survey enables the RIBA to regularly report on two key confidence tracking indices relating to future workloads and staffing levels. For April 2009, the RIBA Future Trends Workload Index is -16 (compared to -31 in March 2009) and the RIBA Future Trends Staffing Index is -27 (compared to -29 in March 2009).

Adrian Dobson, Director of Practice at the RIBA said:

"The April Future Trends Survey portrays a modestly improving picture across a number of areas for practices, particularly in terms of forecasted workload which has seen a 5 per cent rise and the Workload Index increase to -16.

"This month we also asked our participating practices to compare their current staffing and workload levels to this time twelve months ago; we found that practices have tried to maintain capacity even in the face of dramatically falling workloads. The average staffing level is 83 per cent of that a year ago, and practices reported their workload on average was at a level of 69 per cent, compared with that twelve months ago  

"There has also been evidence from jobseeker's allowance claimant statistics and recruitment agencies that women may have been disproportionately affected by the recent wave of redundancies amongst architects, with potential implications for the medium-term gender balance of the profession.  The RIBA Future Trends Survey records data on the gender balance within the practices in the survey sample; the proportion of female architectural staff in the survey is higher than the overall mean based on RIBA membership figures (14 per cent), but has dropped from 28 per cent in January to 22 per cent in April offering further evidence of a disproportionate employment impact upon female staff."