With the UK government’s Budget now announced, prioritising sectors such as housing and infrastructure, architectural practices across the country – particularly small to medium enterprises (SMEs) – are assessing what this shift means for them. While increased funding for these sectors promises opportunities, it also highlights the ongoing challenges faced by practices whose expertise lies outside these immediate focus areas. Now, more than ever, it’s essential to reconsider how we can broaden procurement criteria to allow a more diverse set of architects to contribute innovative solutions to these critical projects.

For practices specialising in other sectors, this Budget’s focus brings a mix of hope and challenges – hope of getting more work, challenges to break into these new fields, especially in a procurement landscape heavily weighted towards sector-specific experience as a measure of competence.

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