Architects stay hopeful in the face of materials worries

Architects remain confident about upcoming workloads but delays on site continue to dog firms.

The RIBA’s latest Future Trends index recorded a score of +12 last month meaning the overall figure has stayed in the black for a year.

But an eight-month run of all regions staying positive has come to an end with the South of England slipping into negative territory with a score of -2 with London the most positive region, posting a score of +26.

The RIBA’s head of economic research and analysis Adrian Malleson admitted: “With stalling growth and rising inflation in both the general economy and the construction sector, concerns are growing that the rapid recovery we saw through 2021 is losing momentum. The new covid variant, Omicron, is clearly emerging as a significant risk.

“Commentary suggests supply-side issues continue to drag on architects’ current and future workload.”

He added that delays in getting planning applications through in a timely manner was also causing some jobs to be stalled or pulled completely.

调查显示，工作量比一年前增加了10%，但已经开工的项目仍因材料运至工地的延误而受到影响。

Getting hold of products was causing hold-ups for 74% of practices and a quarter said jobs had been put on hold as a result.

And a quarter reported the design process was being delayed by the shortages, up from 18% in June.

调查还称，私人住房、商业和公共部门的工作都保持盈利。