RIBA SALARY SURVEY

The big news is that more than a fifth of architects are out of work or underemployed, yet average earnings have risen by 7%, according to the RIBA/Fees Bureau Architects Employment & Earnings Survey 2009.

The survey reveals sharply contrasting fortunes across the UK profession. Overall earnings are up to £45,000 on average with earnings for salaried architects in private practice on average up 6% to £40,300. Architects in London are paid 7 percent above the national average, compared with 16 per cent above the average the previous year. The situation is very different for principals, with sole principals’ earnings falling by 11% on average down from £45,000 to £40,000. Partners’ average earnings are unchanged at £50,000. 

Unemployment stands at 4 per cent compared with less than one quarter of a per cent the previous year. This is the highest rate since 1996. Seventeen percent describe themselves as under-employed due to lack of work, with sole practitioners most affected at 24%. 

The link to the RIBA Salary Survey can be found here.

In the meantime the RIBA Journal has spoken to five members of the profession across the spectrum, to get a view on how the current economic conditions are affecting the profession and their practices.

David Marks, Director, Marks Barfield
Like many practices, Marks Barfield has reluctantly cut pay and made redundancies in order to reduce costs over the last year. After losing the bulk of its workload in a short space of time last October, the practice realised that overheads were the only area it could control and gradually cut staff from 40 to 20.

“We chose the path of slowly releasing staff over a long period of time rather than cutting deep and fast,” says David Marks, adding that all of those laid off have found new jobs. Marks Barfield has also experimented with different ways of working, and for a while tried a four day week, but found that this wasn’t sustainable for staff. Instead, the practice reverted to a five day week but with a 10% salary cut. David Marks and Julia Barfield have not been drawing a salary for some time.

Marks Barfield has changed the way it looks for work, relying more on word of mouth contacts and less on onerous Ojeu applications. As a result it has found that there are still opportunities out there and the practice is now working on projects in a variety of sectors including schools, leisure and transport both in the UK and overseas. Although things have picked up for the practice since last Autumn, conditions remain difficult. “At the moment, we’re not thinking about expanding but surviving,” says Marks. “Last October we probably hoped the recession would be over by now – it was wishful thinking.”

Jonathan Ellis-Miller, Partner, Ellis-Miller Partnership
For some, the recession is a time of expansion. EllisMiller has recently taken on three staff and has been enjoying its best few years yet with particular success in the education sector, which makes up 75% of its work. 

“Financially we’re very stable and strong. We’re aware we’ve almost done the impossible and expanded our market share in an extremely difficult time,” says Jonathan Ellis-Miller, having seen his practice grow from 4 to 14 in three years. “We’ve been very fortunate to hire excellent staff from extremely good practices who’ve had to lay them off,” he adds.

He says the practice has benefited from winning work not just as architects but as strategic consultants in the complex procurement process behind major education projects.

“We are expert and we have diversified to get to the heart of the procurement process,” he says.

As such, it has been been advising clients such as local authorities on their Building Schools for the Future programmes. It is on the core team of the Rotherham BSF project and has created the masterplan for the £24million BSF One School Pathfinder community campus and housing at Oakham. 

The practice has also benefited from expanding into areas often relinquished by architects. “Over the years architects have lost much of their work to project managers and qs’s,” says Ellis-Miller. “We’re picking up work from project managers and doing it much better.”

Although the practice has had its share of hiccups, the outlook remains bright. “It’s not without worry – things are unstable with the potential change of government but in terms of the sectors we are involved in, it’s still healthy,” he says.

Lyndsay Urquhart, MD, Bespoke Career Management
I’ll have to admit that we have actually seen the architectural agency work picking up in the last few weeks; which is a relief, considering that from October 2008 the vacancies completely crashed and burned. Last week, we had five firms ringing in on the same day with vacancies, which is the most we’ve had since the crash. The emphasis is however, in the contract work rather than permanent market, which points to the fact that firms are charging fees for staged work only and therefore are still unwilling to commit to long term employment arrangements. 

There is a lot more demand for ‘front end’ designers – people that can carry out the work for pitches and competition submissions – the emphasis is on spending money to wing the work. Given how little work there is being built at the moment, the ‘delivery end’ staff have really suffered. That said, the hotels and interiors markets have both picked up, maybe more as a reflection of ‘quick-fix’ refurbishment solutions being adopted rather than new build. There has also been movement in the education and healthcare sectors. Private residential markets have held to, presumably with more well-off middle class clients taking advantage of lower labour costs to extend or upgrade their homes. 

The bad news is that salary levels have definitely dropped, especially for those who have been out of work for a while, and generally everyone coming through or doors is expecting to be asking for less than they might have before. There is a danger that clients may take advantage of the situation by offering too little, but the consequence of that approach is that good staff will just leave when the economic situation perks up.

If you had asked me in March, it would have been a gloomier story,as I didn’t expect the situation to be changing until next year. But overall, on the strength of recent market activity, I’m remaining cautiously optimistic.

Jamie Robertson, Project Architect
I had been working at Harper Downie Architects for four and a half years when I was made redundant along with about 8 staff in April this year. It may not have been a surprise given the current state of the market - we were all aware that new jobs had not been coming in at the rate they once were, but it was still a bit of a shock.

After serving out notice I went overseas for a month and to be honest, after all that time with one firm, it’s been difficult to gear up and look for a new position. I started looking at a couple of agencies that I am connected with however as there are so few positions available and so many applicants there has been nothing concrete by way of definite interviews.

I decided to send my CV direct to architectural firms. I’ve been speaking to architect friends, and everyone seems to be keeping their ear to the ground. I feel in this environment, following up leads through contacts is the best way to go about looking-  I think potential employers too are more interested in people that come on recommendation and whose credentials can be backed up, than those without.

The CV is important too – forget about emailing out standard format ones. I’m getting far more positive feedback from people to whom I send a hard copy with both strong content and visual interest and a letter that’s tailored to the firm/role. Making it bold and memorable will help.

I’m doing a little freelance work now- short contract stuff, but again, all from contacts and friends I have made through working. I’m providing a bespoke detailing service, about 10 hours a week for a roofing supplier I had worked with several times previously. It’s quite well paid, and there’s potential for more work when the market picks up a bit, there are also a few similar jobs that have now come my way, a friend is buying and refurbishing a property and has asked me to run the project following the exchanges contracts.

It may seem that there’s little prospect of work but I’ve found that if you use your contacts and the people you know, something will come your way.

Craig Chamberlain, Part I Architectural Assistant
Graduating and looking for work in a depression, that sounds fun. Can’t say I know firsthand as I am gainfully employed and still without my degree. I was too busy with my own projects, mainly writing and publishing a book, to stretch myself too much with my degree and so I ended up leaving without one. It’s not held me back yet. I’m now a freelance 3d modeller with international experience looking to make inroads into journalism and webmedia. It’s going very well so far, I’m travelling, learning new languages and studying the buildings I love. Doubt I’ll be hitting the tax bracket for a while but that’s no ones goal.  When money is tight, your time is worth less than ever so now’s the moment to invest it in what you want to do, if that’s study, read, write or even relax, just make it personal – you’ve got time to.

For a full view of the Mirza and Nacey fees bureau report, click here.