The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) today announces the June 2009 results of its monthly Future Trends Survey, marking the end of the second quarter monitoring business and employment trends affecting the architects' profession.
The trends emanating from last month's survey continue to highlight a steady return to some optimism; only 21 per cent of practices were expecting a decrease in workload, compared to 26 per cent in May. Practices predicting an increase in workload also rose from 27 per cent in May to 31 per cent in June, a further indication that practices continue to grow more confident about their work outlook. The number of staff that are currently underemployed also decreased, from 27 per cent in May to 23 per cent in June.
There has been significant change in workload predictions, particularly within the private housing sector, with practices expecting workloads to increase growing from 11 per cent in May to 24 per cent in June. However, there was minimal change within both the commercial and public sectors. Expectations for a growth in commercial work rose from 11 per cent in May to 13 per cent in June, and fewer practices were predicting less public sector work, down from 23 per cent in May to 16 per cent in June.
Changes in predictions for staff retention were positive overall, with 8 per cent of practices expecting staff levels to increase over the next three months, compared to just 3 per cent in May. The number of practices expecting staff numbers to be cut decreased from 23 per cent in May to just 16 per cent in June; 75 per cent of all practices expecting staff levels to remain constant over the next three months, compared to 76 per cent in May.
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 June 2009, the RIBA Future Trends Workload Index is +10 (compared to +1 in May 2009) and the RIBA Future Trends Staffing Index is -8 (compared to -18 in May 2009).
Adrian Dobson, Director of Practice at the RIBA said:
"The June results mark the end of the first six months of the RIBA Future Trends Survey, and overall we have witnessed a slow but steady return to some confidence and optimism within the profession over the last quarter.
For the first time, practices in our survey are now predicting that workloads will stabilise over the next quarter. This is the most optimistic workload forecast since the Survey was launched in January 2009, perhaps indicating the first sign of the market for architectural services bottoming out. For the first time since the Future Trends Survey began, workloads in the private housing sector were predicted to increase, albeit by a very small balance of +4, possibly an early sign of an increase in the level of enquiries and project opportunities in this sector.
In the April Survey, we asked our participating practices to assess their current workload as a percentage of their workload twelve months previously. The mean workload figure was 69%, demonstrating that on average practices had seen a nearly one third reduction in workload, during the period which broadly represents the time from the peak of the boom to what everyone hopes will be the low point of the cycle of demand for architects' services. At the same time we asked our practices to assess their current permanent staffing levels as a percentage of their permanent staffing complement twelve months previously. The average staffing level was 83%, as compared with the year-on-year workload average of 69%. This indicates that practices have tried to maintain capacity even in the face of falling workloads.
In the May Survey we asked our participating practices to assess how many students (year-out and post-part 2) they currently employ as a percentage of the number they employed twelve months previously. The average student employment level was 55%, in comparison with the average year-on-year staffing levels recorded in the April Survey of 83%. This indicates that student employment levels have indeed been disproportionately reduced, which must lead to inevitable concerns about the economic welfare of students and the opportunities for them to complete the professional practice component of their architectural education. The situation is clearly going to be challenging for students graduating this summer. Support for this key group is a critical challenge for the architects' profession."