RIBA chartered practices have increased their headcount by 8% over the past year, while revenue is up 13% to £3.6bn, according to the institute’s Business Benchmarking Survey 2019 report.

The professional snapshot describes the UK architecture sector as “resilient” and credits it with directly contributing £3.6bn to the national economy over the past 12 months.

However the survey notes pointedly that the growth in revenue is not matched by a growth in profit, while the increased headcount is blamed for pay rises that barely match inflation. It says that while total profits for chartered practices have risen just 6% over the past four years, they actually dropped year-on-year, from £550m in 2018 to £528m this year.

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