The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has published the results of its latest Future Trends Survey.
The RIBA Future Trends Workload Index saw a significant increase, rising to +36 in January 2014 from +30 in December 2013. The New Year saw a further strengthening of confidence levels, which had been steadily rising throughout the second half of 2013. Only 8% of UK practices expect workloads to reduce over the next quarter and nearly half expect them to increase.
RIBA Director of Practice Adrian Dobson said:”It’s heartening that all of the UK nations and regions are now returning very positive balance figures for future workload forecasts. The improvement in sentiment is clearly no longer restricted to London and the South, but is much more widespread.
“Current growth is largely being driven by a widespread strengthening of the private housing sector across the UK and a pick-up in commercial projects in London, the South of England, the Midlands and East Anglia.”