Optimism about commercial sector work highest since July

Cranes

Confidence about architects鈥� future work prospects bounced back into positive territory last month after RIBA鈥檚 monthly Future Trends survey hit a post-Brexit referendum low.

After confidence about future work prospects slumped to -1 in November鈥檚 survey - the lowest figure since June 2016 - December鈥檚 survey revealed a recovery to +8.

It also revealed firms were more optimistic about future staffing levels with a balance figure of +5 compared to November鈥檚 -4, although this is still down on October鈥檚 +8.

All sizes of practice were more confident about the future, with architects in the north of England most optimistic at +22, a big leap from November鈥檚 +7.

Architects in London are most pessimistic about work prospects, with a figure of -5. This is an improvement on November鈥檚 figure of -15 but is still down on October鈥檚 -4.

Confidence about work prospects in all sectors has also bounced back, with optimism about commercial sector work prospects jumping 12 points to +8, the highest figure since July. Private housing remains the strongest sector at +9 but architects remain pessimistic about the public sector which recorded a negative figure of -1.

RIBA said only 13% of architects had been reported being personally under-employed in the past month which suggested that there wasn鈥檛 much slack in the architectural labour market with employment prospects remaining 鈥渇airly stable鈥�.

Adrian Dobson, RIBA鈥檚 executive director for members, said the latest figures were more positive than the previous month.

He said: 鈥淭he private housing refurbishment and extension market remains generally brisk for many. However a number of larger practices continue to report that Brexit uncertainty is putting a brake on development investment. Low price competition from non-architect purveyors of architectural services also continues to be a talking point for a number of correspondents.鈥�