The Budget didn鈥檛 do much to raise Pascale Scheurer鈥檚 hopes for the future of the industry. Here she considers what has changed and what you can do to mitigate the effects

There鈥檚 an old Chinese saying: 鈥淎 man without a smiling face shouldn鈥檛 open a shop鈥�. So true. Well, those of us with shops or other SMEs, especially in construction and architecture, are not exactly smiling after last week鈥檚 Budget. Nor are my local shopkeepers and restaurateurs, who are still, at the end of March, feeling the after-Christmas pinch.

Apart from today鈥檚 April Fools, do you have anything to smile about? Will anything in the Budget benefit your business, boost your confidence or encourage your clients to invest? Let鈥檚 take a look at how the government has played it with this critical, pre-financial year end Budget.

Rearrange

As in, deckchairs on the Titanic. Take a penny off here, add one back there. Rename something, merge something else. Above all, distract from the fact that there isn鈥檛 going to be any significant public sector spending this year and rising unemployment is estimated to generate 拢12.6bn in extra benefit payouts.

Review

I spoke to a civil servant last week, who pleaded patience with the James Review (four months late) as 鈥渋t鈥檚 early days yet鈥�. He seemed genuinely surprised to hear that the delay was causing massive redundancies and firms going bust. Have any of the people in charge ever run a business?

Renewables

I thought there鈥檇 be some solace for companies investing in green energy and the carbon reduction of existing buildings. But uncertainty over feed-in tariffs has hamstrung early-investor businesses, and the Green Investment Bank, a 拢3bn fund, was effectively created by closing the Sustainable Development Commission. The oil, road and nuclear lobbies continue to attract massive subsidies and influence government policy, stamping out the emergent micro-renewables competition. Someone should remind the government that even the loosest definitions of 鈥渟ustainability鈥� do not include 鈥渟ustain our current energy model at all costs, irrespective of the wider impacts鈥�.

Reform

Treasury chief secretary Danny Alexander recognised that 鈥渂usinesses up and down the country waiting for planning permission has a significant negative impact on the economy鈥�. But will the impact from the reforms be felt this year? No. Will they cancel out the uncertainties caused by dissolving regional development agencies and the added uncertainty of localism? I doubt it.

Refurbish (or not)

The Green Deal is intended to encourage energy-efficient refurbishment of existing housing stock, yet the perverse VAT rules continue to mitigate against refurbishment. In the US, $195 (拢122m) has been invested in artificial photosynthesis, which combined with small hydrogen cells sold at DIY stores, turns a home into a mini power-plant. Over here, there鈥檚 no such vision or investment.

Here are my suggestions to weather this Budget storm:

Reduce

Reduce your outgoings, fast. We鈥檙e in for a very rough ride, at least for the next financial year. Architects are a useful barometer for the industry, and things are not picking up yet.

Recycle

Where there鈥檚 muck, there鈥檚 brass. Recycling plants are tipped to be a big growth market as the cost of primary resources climbs with oil costs. Just don鈥檛 expect any direct investment from the government, or the banks to lend. We鈥檙e all in this together, but some of us are in it deeper than others.

Pascale Scheurer is director at Surface to Air Architects

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