Architects start 2018 in positive mood

31/01/2018

The two core indices reflecting British architects’ views on the prospects of future workloads for their profession both bounced back into positive territory in December, expressing – as the Royal Institute of British Architects expresses it – an “uplift in confidence despite continuing Brexit concerns”.

RIBA’s ‘Future Trends Workload Index’, which is the balance between those expecting more work and those expecting less, increased from -1 in November, when slightly more respondents were negative about their employment prospects, to +8 in December, when confidence returned.

All the sector forecasts reflected this increased confidence, with the private housing balance the most upbeat at +9, followed by the commercial sector’s +8 – up from -3 in November.

Geographically, practices in the North were the most buoyant with a balance of +22, followed by the Midlands and East Anglia (+18). Pessimism persisted among London practices, although the balance increased to -5 in December from -15 in November.

The RIBA Future Trends Staffing Index – which expresses the difference between those expecting to employ more permanent staff in the next three months and those expecting to employ fewer – also bounced back into positive territory in December (+5), compared with -4 in November.

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