86% of Architectural Practices Declare Themselves Either ‘Optimistic’ or ‘Very Optimistic’

The AJ 100 survey for 2022 has been published and shows that optimism is running higher than in any of the previous six years, with 86 per cent of practices declaring themselves either ‘optimistic’ or ‘very optimistic’ for 2022, compared with just 2 per cent ‘pessimistic’ (down from 7 per cent the previous year). Four-fifths of AJ100 practices expect to increase their architectural headcount this year, with only one expecting to shrink.

However, this and other positive findings, are caveated in the commentary which says, “In many ways, however, the timing of the survey captures something of a fleeting sweet spot, with practices surveyed as Covid receded but before the Russian invasion of Ukraine and cost of living crisis.”

Other findings include:

• The number of architects employed at AJ 100 practices increased by 3.8% to 7036
• Permanently employed architectural staff in AJ100 firms rose 11.4 per cent to 12,573
• Four-fifths of AJ100 practices expect to increase their architectural headcount this year
• BDP once again resoundingly tops the charts for fees from UK-based architecture projects managed and delivered by UK offices.
• More than a quarter of AJ100 practices said Brexit-related restrictions had had a substantial or severe impact on recruitment. Practices noting a wider detrimental Brexit impact included Rolfe Judd: ‘The cost of construction on many of our projects has risen significantly, as has the cost of the materials coming from Europe. Due to the impact of Brexit, many of our future projects are being reviewed by clients, resulting in projects being delayed or cancelled.

The full commentary can be found on the Architects Journal website here.

Construct UK has updated its database of 1,200 + UK architectural practices
in order to denote which appear in the new AJ 100 rankings – see Marketing to Architects.

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