The Royal Institute of British Architects' (RIBA) Future Trends Survey for April 2012 has revealed architecture practices are continuing to stay positive about their future workload. The RIBA Future Trends Workload Index for April 2012 stands at +9, a slight drop from +11 in March.
RIBA practices have remained more confident about their future workloads in 2012 than they were throughout most of 2011. Practices in the majority of UK nations and regions felt positive about their future workload.
The private housing sector remains very positive (balance figure +15) and the key commercial sector continues to sustain an upward trend (balance figure +6, up from +2 in March).
The Future Trends Staffing Index for April 2012 stands at 0, rising marginally from -2 in March 2012. Medium sized practices (11 - 50 staff) remain the most confident about future staffing levels, returning a balance figure of +7.
"Commercial work will be critical to medium term growth for architects; with the on-going fiscal squeeze in the public and banking sectors, it is the corporate sector which is in the strongest position to make capital investments when confidence returns in the wider global economy," commented Adrian Dobson, RIBA Director of Practice.
"Despite the recent and sustained gains in the workload and staffing forecasts, there is still no sign of a readiness to build up general staffing levels, and larger practices in particular seem to remain cautious about increasing their payroll."