Architects’ workloads remain in positive territory across the country reports RIBA

The design and construction sector continues to pick up, particularly in Scotland, Southern England and London says the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). Although the Future Trends Workload Index fell back slightly in November, standing at +31 compared with +35 in October 2013, it remained firmly in positive territory. RIBA’s monthly survey illustrates the profession’s confidence and workload, and is a useful indicator of the health of the wider UK construction industry.Welcoming the growing confidence across the United Kingdom, RIBA Director of Practice Adrian Dobson said: “In terms of geographical analysis the highest balance figures were in Scotland (+50), the South of England (+41) and London (+40), but all UK nations and regions remain positive about future workloads, again reflecting a widespread increase in confidence levels.”

While private housing remains by far the most buoyant of the sector forecasts, the commercial sector workload forecast was unchanged at +18 in November 2013, with continuing positive signals about improvements.

Practices remain cautious about the short term prospects for the public sector; which had an unchanged workload forecast at +3 this month. The community sector workload forecast saw a small rise to +7 in November 2013 up from a balance figure of +3 in October 2013.

Anecdotal feedback suggests that architects are continuing to see an increase in enquiries which is slowly being reflected in a modest overall upswing in actual workloads. At the same time it is clear that fee competition remains intense and there is little evidence yet of any widespread upward market pressures on fee levels.

To read the full survey click here.