Confidence softens but practices still expect workloads to increase over the next three months
Architects remain optimistic about future workloads despite the impact of the Middle East conflict on client confidence, the latest RIBA Future Trends survey has found.
While the survey recorded a slight softening of workload expectations in March, practices overall expect their volume of work to increase over the next three months.
The monthly survey’s index dipped from +5 in February to +1 last month, with any number above zero indicating that respondents on balance remain optimistic about near-term workloads.
The outlook for medium and large-sized practices also increased sharply, rising from +12 in February to +39 in March, although the index for smaller practices, those which employ ten or less people, sunk eight points to -5.
RIBA’s executive director of knowledge and standards Adrian Dobson said the results “show a resilient profession, despite a softening outlook likely influenced by the economic impact of the conflict in the Middle East.
“For the sector, the effects of the conflict are likely to include supply chains coming under pressure, increased project costs, particularly for energy-intensive or oil-based construction products, reduced client confidence and fewer new commissions if inflation and interest rates rise substantially,” he added.
Meanwhile, the survey recorded a mixed picture for sector-specific workload expectations, with the public and commercial sectors rising to zero and +1 respectively but private housing falling to -4 and the community sector falling to -5.
Expectations for future permanent staffing levels dipped from +4 to +3, while the number for temporary staff fell from +5 to +1.
The relatively sanguine response of RIBA members to the Middle East crisis contrasts with the latest release of the S&P Global UK Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index, published yesterday, which found new construction orders had fallen at one of the sharpest rates in six years.
The PMI also found month-on-month material prices had shot up at the fastest rate in nearly three decades following Iran’s closure of the straight of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil supplies travel.
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