黑洞社区

Brexit and a local government stalemate are blunting architects鈥� confidence in London and Northern Ireland, according to RIBA鈥檚 latest Future Trends survey about upcoming workloads.

Practices in Northern Ireland returned the lowest balance figure of 0, a repeat of January鈥檚 score, while those in the capital continued to be relatively pessimistic, with a balance figure of just +1, up from -14 in January.

Confidence collapsed among large practices, those with more than 50 staff, which returned a balance figure of 0 from last month鈥檚 +14.

RIBA鈥檚 executive director Adrian Dobson, said the pessimism shown by larger practices and those in London and Northern Ireland was 鈥渕ost likely due to the uncertainty surrounding the Brexit negotiations and also perhaps the current lack of a sitting government in Northern Ireland鈥�.

But medium-sized firms (11 to 50 staff) were more positive with a balance figure of +8 with small practices (1 to 10 staff) the most confident with a balance figure of +18.

While the index posted an overall recovery in February, rising to +17 from January鈥檚 +12 score 鈥� the third consecutively monthly increase in a row since its November 2017 low 鈥� the latest data highlighted a mix of attitudes towards medium term workloads.

Firms in the South East returned a balance figure of +21, Wales and the West +22, the Midlands and East Anglia +27 and the North of England +32.

Sector-wise those firms working in private housing remained the most upbeat, rising to +21 in February, up from +13 in January.

Dobson added that 鈥渁 number of practices have commented that a fast-developing build-to-rent market is paramount to their current and future workloads鈥�.

The commercial sector workload forecast also grew, with a balance figure of +7 in February, up from +1 in January.

The public sector workload forecast came in at +2, up from -4 in January, while the community sector forecast headed further south, coming in at -4 in February compared with January鈥檚 -1.