RIBA announces October results of the Future Trends Survey

December 18, 2009 by Posted by: Chris Gaerig, Online Editor
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The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) recently announced the October results of its monthly Future Trends Survey, which was established in January 2009 to monitor business and employment trends affecting the architecture profession.

The trends emanating from this month’s survey reveal modest changes to the September results, both in terms of workload prediction and staffing. More practices predicted an increase in workload, (31% in October, compared to 33% in September), although this indicator has been quite volatile over the last quarter and does not represent a sustained trend of confidence growth. The number of practices predicting a decline in workload remained constant at 16%, in addition to levels of underemployment (30% of practices stated they were underemployed in October, and 29% in September).

Both public and commercial work sectors presented improvements with predicted increases in workloads; 19% of practices expected public sector work to increase (growing from 17% in September), and 18% predicted more commercial work, compared to 16% in September. In October, only 28% of practices expected more private housing work, which was a further drop of 4% from the September figures (32%).

Changes in predictions for staff retention also reflected tentative improvements, with more practices predicting an increase in staff (7% in October, compared to 5% in September), however those expecting a decrease remained constant at 13%. The number of women employed in practice also remained constant at 21%.


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