黑洞社区

It鈥檚 time to ask yourself whether you鈥檙e paid enough. Each year 黑洞社区鈥檚 salary survey of key professional construction industry roles, compiled with data from recruitment firm Hays, uncovers the salaries that QSs, architects and engineers can expect to command at various points in their careers. This year the picture is strikingly similar to last 鈥� with consultants benefiting from a headline modest average pay rise of 2.8% over the last 12 months, exactly the same as in 2017.

In fact, the survey is the latest data to confirm the continuing uneasy truce between opportunity and uncertainty that has characterised the UK construction industry since the 2016 EU referendum. Clients鈥� nerves in the face of Brexit have largely been overcome by a recovering global economy and the continuing fundamental demand for new infrastructure, homes and other premises. This steady growth has translated into ongoing strong demand for skilled professionals, albeit without the feeding frenzy atmosphere seen immediately after the recession abated in 2013.

But look closer at the survey: subtle changes are afoot in how the market for skilled professionals is changing in the 鈥減hony war鈥� atmosphere since Brexit. Employers are finding skilled workers harder and harder to prise from their jobs, forcing them to both turbo-charge their entry level recruitment efforts, and look inwards to their own organisations to find staff for the new challenges they face.

鈥淭here are still lots of opportunities, but it鈥檚 not as crazy as it was. it鈥檚 gone from being silly, to just being very busy鈥�

Richard Gelder, Hays Construction & Property

Pinch points

The 2.8% average pay rise recorded by Hays in this survey is one percentage point ahead of what most people in the UK have seen in the last year, hinting at the industry鈥檚 ongoing shortage of skilled people. But it鈥檚 unlikely you鈥檒l feel much better off for it: 2.8% is still marginally below the rate of inflation. Certainly, those who joined the industry after 2013, when even the average wage rise topped 5% a year, may be somewhat disappointed by a notable lack of the double-digit increases many professionals saw around 2014-15. In fact this is, says Richard Gelder, director at Hays Construction & Property, really just a return to a much more normal market. 鈥淭here are still lots of opportunities, but it鈥檚 clearly not as crazy as it was. It鈥檚 gone from being silly, to just being very busy,鈥� he says.

The data, somewhat inevitably, shows some variation in wage rises, with QSs appearing to be most in demand. At most levels of seniority QS salaries have increased by 4%, where architects are seeing 1-2% rises and engineers 2-3%. Hays鈥� Gelder says: 鈥淚t鈥檚 the usual picture, with QSs and project managers hugely in demand. But building surveyors and general surveying roles are also really busy.鈥� 

Anecdotally, other key pinch points are around roles such as data scientists that result from the increasing use of technology in the design and operation of buildings, as well as 鈥� following the Grenfell tragedy 鈥� jobs related to fire safety. Daniel Harris, senior talent acquisition lead at Aecom, which is 6,800-strong in the UK, says cost managers, project managers and anything to do with fire safety are currently most often the hardest to fill roles.

Geographically, Hays鈥� Gelder says that London remains a very strong market, despite the commercial office and high-end residential downturn, but that growth there is now being outpaced by regional cities: Birmingham and Manchester particularly, but also Leeds, Bristol, Edinburgh and Glasgow. For example, Andrew Reynolds, UK and global board director at consultant RLB, which has grown by more than 20% to 580 UK employees in the last year, says growth has been fastest in regional cities including Manchester, where staff numbers doubled in 18 months.

鈥淔irst [on staff鈥檚 job priority list] is a sense of belonging and of their values being represented in the firm鈥�

James Bryce, Arcadis

Control

Hays鈥� survey shows more than half (57%) of organisations expecting business growth this year, slightly down on the 64% in 2017, with two-thirds planning to recruit. Two-thirds of businesses (64%) told Hays they had experience moderate skills shortages, with near a fifth (18%) citing 鈥渆xtreme鈥� shortages. But whereas consultants were willing to break the bank to bring people in during the overheated market of three years ago, now employees shouldn鈥檛 expect to be offered mega-money to move.

Stuart Senior, main board director at Gleeds, says: 鈥淲e took on 100 apprentices and have worked hard on succession planning and in general terms we can find the people we鈥檙e looking for. We like to think we don鈥檛 have to throw money at people to move here.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 very clear that a few years ago there wasn鈥檛 the level of rigour and strategic thinking about making offers as there is now,鈥� adds Gelder. 鈥淚t鈥檚 now about controlled growth. There鈥檚 an urgency to take people on, but they鈥檙e much more aware of what the market rate is and know it鈥檚 better not to make the wrong decision.鈥�

James Bryce, director of strategic workforce planning at Arcadis is in some ways an example of the more controlled and strategic view employers are taking of staffing, opposed to the pell-mell rush to hire of 2014-15. Not a human resources professional, his job is to match demand, supply and staff resource in the short, medium and long term. 鈥淭hree or four years ago Arcadis probably wouldn鈥檛 have hired a director to do this,鈥� he says.

However, this more controlled growth can leave employees disappointed. Bryce says his firm, which had 15,000 applicants for 1,000 jobs last year, is one of many to be focusing on improving and refining the non-financial elements of its offer to employees while salaries are restrained. 鈥淭he salaries that people are wanting [in order] to move are often very high. There鈥檚 a bit of a mismatch of expectations between the workforce and what increases clients are prepared to bear. 

鈥淗owever, if you ask people, financial reward is about fourth of fifth on their list of job priorities. First is a sense of belonging, and of their values being represented in the firm. This attracts a lot of people.鈥� Gelder agrees. 鈥淓mployees are now much more aware of what else a business can offer them beyond salary, in terms of experience, how the business will develop, and issues like flexibility and work-life balance.

鈥淚f an employer is not able offer these things, it鈥檚 potentially putting itself at a real disadvantage,鈥� he says.

The larger consultants have now long since dusted down the graduate- and apprentice-level recruitment programmes designed to bring in the talent of the future. But to address the here and now, the need is for mid-career skilled professionals with a decent amount of experience under their belts. However, with firms no longer flashing the cash to bring in new hires, and Brexit casting a pall of uncertainty over growth prospects, it appears more staff than ever are deciding to stay put. 

Retention

Hays鈥� data suggests 48% of workers will consider looking for a new role this year, down sharply from 69% in 2017. RLB鈥檚 Reynolds says: 鈥淓xperienced technical individuals that have been in their roles for some time are just not really thinking about moving. Part of this is the natural appetite for risk being different at different times in your life. But there鈥檚 also a level of reticence related to Brexit and what that could mean.鈥�

Likewise, Bryce says: 鈥淧eople are very cautious about moving 鈥� uncertainty makes them want to dig in. There has been a bit of a merry-go-round in the sector, but that鈥檚 beginning to disappear.鈥� This dynamic is making efforts by employers to retain existing staff ever more important. Hays鈥� employer survey suggests more employers are increasing training budgets (22% compared with 13% last year) and running mentoring programmes (24%), both of which show existing workers they are valued. Gleeds鈥� Senior says: 鈥淎s we鈥檝e moved out of recession retention has become of paramount importance鈥�, while Gelder adds: 鈥淭he focus is on retention, without a shadow of a doubt.鈥�

But simply retaining staff in existing roles isn鈥檛 enough for businesses that not only want to grow, but also need to refocus into new markets and position themselves for new opportunities. Here the difficulty and expense of hiring is driving them to look inward to fill the vacancies created. Bryce says 500 Arcadis staff moved internally last year. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 grow your own talent immediately, so you鈥檙e left with the option of working with what you have. Our answer is to create a really good resource management framework, and equip our existing people with the right knowledge so we don鈥檛 have to buy in more talent unnecessarily.鈥�

Aecom鈥檚 Harris is working to the same goal: 鈥淚f you have people within your business that can move and learn new skills, it benefits everyone. Recruiting is expensive, there鈥檚 a big saving by creating an environment where people can move and it impacts the bottom line.鈥�

This route, of course, may not be for everyone, with Harris admitting some employees are 鈥渢raditional鈥� and 鈥渞igid鈥� in what they want from a job. But for those employees willing to learn new skills, it is likely to only make them more employable. 

黑洞社区 surveyors

Region	Partner/director	Associate	Senior surveyor	Newly qualified building surveyor	Graduate building surveyor	Maintenance surveyor
East Midlands	拢60,500	拢51,000	拢44,000	拢34,000	拢22,500	拢31,000
East of England	拢66,000	拢50,000	拢42,000	拢33,000	拢20,500	拢32,000
London	拢98,000	拢75,000	拢56,500	拢42,000	拢28,000	拢38,000
North-east	拢52,000	拢45,000	拢44,000	拢31,000	拢22,000	拢33,000
North-west	拢74,000	拢50,000	拢42,000	拢37,500	拢24,000	拢30,000
Northern Ireland	拢52,500	拢42,000	拢33,000	拢29,500	拢19,000	拢28,000
Scotland	拢72,000	拢60,000	拢52,000	拢36,000	拢23,000	拢28,500
South-east England	拢76,000	拢62,000	拢52,000	拢36,500	拢22,500	拢36,000
South-west England	拢67,500	拢50,000	拢40,000	拢32,500	拢24,000	拢32,500
Wales	拢62,000	拢49,000	拢44,000	拢32,000	拢23,000	拢31,000
West Midlands	拢67,500	拢52,000	拢43,000	拢35,500	拢24,000	拢32,000
Yorkshire and Humber	拢66,000	拢47,500	拢42,500	拢35,000	拢22,500	拢28,000
National average	拢67,833	拢52,792	拢44,583	拢34,542	拢22,917	拢31,667
Average change 2017-2018	3%	4%	3%	4%	4%	4%

Professional quantity surveyors

Region	Partner/director	Associate	Senior surveyor	Newly qualified surveyor	Graduate surveyor	Claims and dispute resolution	Project manager
East Midlands	拢68,000	拢51,000	拢46,500	拢36,000	拢24,000	拢46,000	拢46,000
East of England	拢65,000	拢52,000	拢47,000	拢36,000	拢22,500	拢51,000	拢43,000
London	拢95,000	拢75,000	拢60,000	拢42,500	拢28,000	拢78,000	拢55,000
North-east	拢58,000	拢50,000	拢48,000	拢31,500	拢22,000	拢40,000	拢42,000
North-west	拢78,000	拢53,500	拢46,000	拢36,000	拢24,500	拢52,000	拢45,000
Northern Ireland	拢68,000	拢50,000	拢40,000	拢33,500	拢21,000	拢46,000	拢39,000
Scotland	拢75,000	拢66,000	拢55,000	拢37,000	拢23,000	拢47,000	拢47,000
South-east England	拢85,000	拢68,500	拢54,000	拢41,000	拢26,000	拢50,000	拢55,000
South-west England	拢65,000	拢51,500	拢45,000	拢33,500	拢25,000	拢46,500	拢43,500
Wales	拢62,000	拢48,000	拢42,000	拢32,000	拢22,000	拢46,000	拢46,500
West Midlands	拢68,000	拢56,000	拢46,500	拢33,000	拢25,000	拢44,000	拢43,500
Yorkshire and Humber	拢66,000	拢52,000	拢45,500	拢35,500	拢23,000	拢53,500	拢46,000
National average	拢71,083	拢56,125	拢47,958	拢35,625	拢23,833	拢50,000	拢45,958
Average change 2017-2018	3%	4%	4%	3%	4%	3%	3%

Architects

Region	Partner/director	Associate	Architect	Architectural assistant, Part II	Architectural assistant, Part I
East Midlands	拢60,000	拢45,500	拢41,500	拢25,750	拢20,000
East of England	拢53,000	拢43,000	拢41,000	拢22,500	拢18,500
London	拢85,000	拢65,000	拢45,500	拢31,000	拢22,000
North-east	拢50,500	拢40,500	拢32,000	拢20,500	拢17,500
North-west	拢65,000	拢47,000	拢36,250	拢25,250	拢18,250
Northern Ireland	拢51,500	拢43,500	拢33,250	拢22,500	拢16,250
Scotland	拢55,000	拢45,000	拢36,000	拢23,000	拢16,000
South-east England	拢65,500	拢51,000	拢42,500	拢28,500	拢22,000
South-west England	拢51,000	拢42,500	拢38,500	拢26,500	拢16,500
Wales	拢51,000	拢40,000	拢35,000	拢25,250	拢17,250
West Midlands	拢59,000	拢45,500	拢39,000	拢24,500	拢17,500
Yorkshire and Humber	拢58,000	拢45,000	拢33,500	拢22,750	拢18,250
National average	拢58,708	拢46,125	拢37,833	拢24,833	拢18,333
Average change 2017 - 2018	1%	2%	2%	2%	2%

Interior designers

Region	Senior interior designer	Interior designer
East Midlands	拢34,250	拢28,250
East of England	拢36,000	拢30,500
London	拢47,000	拢39,000
North-east	拢28,000	拢25,500
North-west	拢35,250	拢27,500
Northern Ireland	拢28,000	拢23,500
Scotland	拢34,000	拢27,000
South-east England	拢38,250	拢32,250
South-west England	拢31,000	拢26,250
Wales	拢31,250	拢26,250
West Midlands	拢39,000	拢28,250
Yorkshire and Humber	拢28,750	拢25,250
National average	拢34,229	拢28,292
Average change 2017-2018	2%	1%

Architectural CAD technicians

Region	Senior CAD technician	CAD technician
East Midlands	拢36,250	拢28,500
East of England	拢34,000	拢25,500
London	拢41,000	拢30,500
North-east	拢29,000	拢24,500
North-west	拢36,500	拢26,250
Northern Ireland	拢29,000	拢22,500
Scotland	拢34,000	拢22,000
South-east England	拢38,500	拢28,500
South-west England	拢35,000	拢26,500
Wales	拢32,500	拢23,250
West Midlands	拢34,250	拢27,250
Yorkshire and Humber	拢31,500	拢24,750
National average	拢34,292	拢25,833
Average change 2017-2018	2%	2%

Civil CAD technicians

Region	CAD manager	Senior CAD team leader	CAD technician
East Midlands	拢38,000	拢35,750	拢32,500
East of England	拢40,000	拢38,000	拢29,500
London	拢55,000	拢46,750	拢37,750
North-east	拢35,750	拢31,500	拢22,500
North-west	拢40,000	拢37,750	拢29,500
Northern Ireland	拢32,500	拢29,500	拢26,250
Scotland	拢40,000	拢39,250	拢30,250
South-east England	拢39,000	拢38,500	拢31,000
South-west England	拢39,500	拢37,250	拢27,750
Wales	拢37,000	拢31,000	拢25,500
West Midlands	拢39,500	拢39,500	拢31,000
Yorkshire and Humber	拢37,000	拢32,000	拢26,500
National average	拢39,438	拢36,396	拢29,167
Average change 2017-2018	3%	2%	2%

Structural engineers

Region	Associate	Senior engineer	Engineer	Graduate engineer
East Midlands	拢56,500	拢47,000	拢40,000	拢23,500
East of England	拢53,000	拢45,000	拢36,750	拢25,500
London	拢66,000	拢53,000	拢40,500	拢29,000
North-east	拢49,500	拢41,000	拢33,000	拢22,500
North-west	拢53,250	拢42,000	拢35,000	拢24,750
Northern Ireland	拢46,000	拢38,000	拢30,000	拢23,500
Scotland	拢55,000	拢43,500	拢33,000	拢25,500
South-east England	拢55,000	拢46,000	拢36,000	拢25,500
South-west England	拢56,500	拢41,500	拢33,500	拢22,500
Wales	拢51,500	拢41,000	拢32,500	拢22,500
West Midlands	拢60,000	拢46,000	拢37,000	拢25,500
Yorkshire and Humber	拢49,000	拢39,500	拢31,000	拢23,250
National average	拢54,271	拢43,625	拢34,854	拢24,458
Average change 2017-2018	3%	3%	3%	2%

Architectural technologists

Region	Associate	Senior technologist	Technologist
East Midlands	拢41,000	拢34,000	拢26,500
East of England	拢49,000	拢40,000	拢32,000
London	拢52,000	拢45,000	拢35,000
North-east	拢41,000	拢34,000	拢26,500
North-west	拢45,000	拢38,000	拢28,000
Northern Ireland	拢38,000	拢33,000	拢23,000
Scotland	拢40,000	拢37,000	拢26,000
South-east England	拢50,000	拢40,000	拢32,000
South-west England	拢39,000	拢35,000	拢25,000
Wales	拢36,000	拢32,000	拢22,000
West Midlands	拢43,000	拢34,000	拢27,000
Yorkshire and Humber	拢43,000	拢34,000	拢27,000
National average	拢43,083	拢36,333	拢27,500
Average change 2017-2018	n/a	n/a	n/a