The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has today released the results of its Future Trends Survey results for May 2012.
The upward trend for architect's workloads, which started at the beginning of the year, continues to grow. The Future Trends Workload Index for architects for May 2012 stands at +13, compared with +2 at the same time last year. Large practices with 51 or more staff are the most optimistic about future workloads, reporting a balance figure of +29. Across the UK, most regions reported encouraging workload forecasts, with the only exceptions being Scotland (0) and Northern Ireland (-14).
Across sectors, housing improved by a single balance point to +16, the commercial sector dropped two points to +4, and the community sector forecast saw a two point rise to -7. The public sector forecast saw a significant advance and now stands at -8, compared to -14 in April 2012.
"This month's results may be an indication that public sector workloads are beginning to stabilize now that the initial cuts in public sector capital programmes have filtered through," commented Adrian Dobson, RIBA Director of Practice. "They may also reflect a growing belief that the Government is going to introduce some new fiscal stimulus, which could include additional expenditure on public sector construction."
The RIBA Future Trends Staffing Index for May 2012 remains stable and is virtually unchanged at -1. In May 2012, 20% of respondents to the survey stated that they had personally been under-employed in the last month. This is the best figure recorded since the RIBA Future Survey began in January 2009 and is further evidence that the economic outlook for architects may be gradually improving.
The latest quarterly data series from the survey has also shown how overall student employment has decreased by 40% since 2008, revealing that the recession has impacted disproportionally upon those architects in the early stages of their careers.