24 June 2022 · By Pamela Buxton and Bruce Tether
We crunch the latest AJ100 survey findings, which suggest that the profession has not only bounced back from the pandemic dip but is at its most optimistic for years
In many ways, however, the timing of the survey captures something of a fleeting sweet spot, with practices surveyed as Covid receded but before the Russian invasion of Ukraine and cost of living crisis.
The AJ100 survey data for 2021 reveals that, after a decline in 2020, the number of architects employed at AJ100 practices in the UK rose by 3.8 per cent to 7,036, the highest level since 2008, writes Bruce Tether. This trend is reflected in the minimum number of architects employed by a practice to be eligible for inclusion in the latest rankings, which rose by two to 27 since the previous year.
Further evidence of recovery can be found in the total number of permanently employed architectural staff in AJ100 firms, which rose 11.4 per cent to 12,573 –higher than in recent pre-pandemic times.
Aggregate architecture fee income to UK offices rose by 8 per cent to £1.36 billion after a dip in the previous year. Salaries have also recovered after the previous year’s slight fall, with architects typically paid £2,000 more, and partner/director level pay up by 8.6 per cent.
Optimism is running higher than in any of the previous six years, with 86 per cent of practices declaring themselves either ‘optimistic’ or ‘very optimistic’ for 2022, compared with just 2 per cent ‘pessimistic’ (down from 7 per cent the previous year). Four-fifths of AJ100 practices expect to increase their architectural headcount this year, with only one expecting to shrink.
Forty practices reported increased productivity by the end of 2021, compared with before the pandemic, while 26 experienced lower levels, indicating that changes in working arrangements need be no hindrance to business performance. Hybrid working was widely adopted by December 2021. Three quarters of practices said at least half their staff were working in that way. Eighty-five per cent of respondents to a confidential staff survey said they were either ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with their practice’s arrangements for returning to the office or hybrid working.
The data shows steady progress towards more sustainable design practices. The proportion of those frequently advocating retrofit over demolition has risen from 55 per cent to 63 per cent. Sixty-seven per cent now measure their own carbon footprint, compared with 52 per cent the previous year. Almost 80 per cent of AJ100 practices measure operational emissions of their projects to some extent, up from 76 per cent. While only 7 per cent always measure embodied carbon (up from 2 per cent the previous year), the proportion of those never measuring it fell from 35 to 12 per cent in the past two years.
Asked what percentage of their built projects are designed to perform beyond the Part L minimum, 41 per cent said they did so on 80-100 per cent of projects, up from 33 per cent last year. Those doing so on only 0-19 per cent dipped from 9 per cent to 7 per cent. Passivhaus-trained designers are now employed by 62 per cent of AJ100 practices, up from 48 per cent last year.
Despite the improved picture, it’s not all plain sailing. Some respondents cited aviation, higher education and leisure as sectors affected by the pandemic, while areas such as public sector housing and healthcare showed resilience.
Just over half of AJ100 practices said Brexit-related restrictions had impacted slightly on recruitment, while more than a quarter reported substantial or severe impact. Issues raised included a shrinking talent pool, raised costs due to sponsoring EU applicants, and increased salary demands.
Practices noting a wider detrimental Brexit impact included Rolfe Judd: ‘The cost of construction on many of our projects has risen significantly, as has the cost of the materials coming from Europe. Due to the impact of Brexit, many of our future projects are being reviewed by clients, resulting in projects being delayed or cancelled.’
Placed second in the overall rankings, BDP once again resoundingly tops the charts for fees from UK-based architecture projects managed and delivered by UK offices. Nonetheless, both BDP and second-ranked Allford Hall Monaghan Morris experienced downturns in these fees during 2021 compared with the previous year, with falls of 9 per cent and 11 per cent respectively. Third-placed tp bennett, however, saw a 15 per cent rise. Foster + Partners once again clearly leads the UK architectural staff table with an increase of 19 on the year before, ahead of BDP, which added 70 architectural staff during 2021. Zaha Hadid Architects moves into third place after a rise of 45. There’s little movement in the architects employed overseas table, with an unchanged top three of clear leader Perkins&Will, followed by Jacobs and HOK.
For the third year running, the percentage of women architects employed by AJ100 practices in the UK stands at 35 per cent, which compares well with ARB statistics of 30 per cent for 2020 for all registered architects. Seventy-three practices report that women constitute at least 30 per cent of their employed architects, including all but one of the top 20 practices. At five practices (John Robertson Architects, Pollard Thomas Edwards, Buttress, Architype and Powell Dobson), women constitute at least half of those practices’ architects employed in the UK. But, in three practices – DLA, Hadfield Cawkwell Davidson and Rolfe Judd – fewer than one in five architects is a woman; this compares with 12 practices last year.
The number of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) architects employed by AJ100 practices in the UK rose to 836, just under 12 per cent of the total, compared with 11 per cent last year. Seven AJ100 practices – AECOM, Atkins, Chapman Taylor, Foster + Partners, IBI Group, Perkins&Will and Populous – did not report the number of BAME architects they employ. The proportion of BAME architects within AJ100 practices varies considerably. They account for more than a third of all the architects in three practices (PLP Architecture, Stephen George + Partners and Zaha Hadid Architects) and more than a quarter in two others (Jestico + Whiles and WATG). On the other hand, six reported employing no BAME architects and another two only one.
Almost 80 per cent of AJ100 practices measure the operational emissions of their projects, with 11 always doing so. The proportion never doing so is now 20 per cent, down from 24 per cent last year and a third in the year before that, showing this practice is becoming increasingly accepted. The proportion of practices never measuring embodied carbon in their projects fell from 18 per cent to 12 per cent. Five practices said they always measured whole-life carbon, with another 31 practices doing so frequently, up from 22 the previous year.
Ten AJ100 practices are yet to join any of the main sustainability initiatives, compared with 17 the previous year. Architects Declare remains the most popular, with 79 signed up, compared with 81 last year. Take-up of the RIBA’s 2030 Climate Challenge grew from 37 to 59 among the AJ100, while 25 of the cohort are now members of the Architects Climate Action Network, up from 17. Eight practices have joined all five of these initiatives, up two from the previous year.
Little progress has been made in adopting post-occupancy performance evaluation. While fewer practices say they never carry this out (15 per cent, compared with 18 per cent), only one practice (Gilling Dod Architects) said it always undertook post-occupancy performance evaluations, compared with two and four in the two previous years. Those doing so frequently were also down (from 20 per cent to 18 per cent), while those doing so occasionally rose to 66 per cent from 60 and 48 per cent respectively for the two years before.
AJ100 practices are increasingly likely to consider the effect on people and the environment of their material choices. This is now always or frequently assessed by 63 per cent, compared with 58 per cent last year and 52 per cent the year before. About a fifth now always do this, compared with 17 per cent a year earlier.
More AJ100 firms are adopting sustainable practices, according to the latest data. All of the top 25 now offer sustainability training. Across the whole rankings, 93 per cent now do so, up from 91 per cent. Ninety-four per cent have a sustainability team, up from 89 and 80 per cent in the two previous years respectively. Seventy-nine per cent now have a director of sustainability, up from 74 per cent the year before. Sustainability research and development is also now widespread, up from 68 per cent to 72 per cent of practices. The proportion of practices measuring their carbon footprint rose significantly from 52 per cent to 67 per cent.
In relation to specialist sustainability staff, the largest increase was in Passivhaus-trained designers, who are now employed by 62 per cent of AJ100 practices, compared with 48 per cent and 40 per cent respectively for the two years before. The number of BREEAM professionals nudged up slightly to 29 per cent, while LEED assessors remained at 27 per cent.
Pay has increased at all levels within AJ100 practices, with the exception of year-out students, whose median pay remained the same at £23,000. Architects are typically being paid £2,000 more than the previous year, with median pay now at £41,000, while associates’ median pay is £55,000, up £750 from last year. Median pay to Part 3 students is also up by almost £500 to £30,000. But the big winners are partners and directors, with median salaries more than recovering to rise from £87,500 to £95,000. While 38 practices reported paying their partners or directors £100,000 (one fewer than last year), only one reported paying more than £150,000 a year, compared with five the previous year. Two practices reported paying their partners and directors less than £60,000, a salary below that earned by associates in 18 of the AJ100 practices.
The importance of junior architectural staff to AJ100 practices is reflected in the findings that Part 1 and Part 2 assistants typically account for 18 per cent of total architectural staff. For two practices – Weston Williamson + Partners and Orms – the share is more than 40 per cent. By contrast, 15 practices employ less than half the median. In total, the AJ100 practices employed 691 Part 1 architectural assistants in the UK, and 1,565 Part 2 architectural assistants. As expected, Foster + Partners had by far the most architectural assistants: 218 (35 Part 1s and 183 Part 2s), followed by the others in the top five. The lowest count of architectural assistants was just three, which three practices had. The first architectural apprenticeships were introduced in 2018. However, 49 practices reported having no architectural apprentices. Atkins employed the most (40), followed by Foster + Partners (16).
More than half of AJ100 survey respondents reported that their ability to hire architects and other skilled architectural workers had been slightly impacted by Brexit restrictions while nearly a quarter had been substantially affected. Three practices reported a severe effect. Narrative responses cited EU architects returning to their home countries, fewer coming to the UK, and the raised cost of sponsoring EU applicants as reasons. The reduced talent pool also had an impact on salary demands. There was less impact on architecture activities in the EU, with those practices who were active there mostly reporting that EU business had remained stable. Fifteen per cent, however, increased their business in the EU, including three which did so substantially. Some had established offices in the EU or expanded their European teams.
Architectural fees from overseas projects paid to UK offices totalled nearly £337 million, a rise of £25.5 million. This more than recouped last year’s decline of £23 million. Fifty-nine practices contributed to this total. Foster + Partners and Zaha Hadid Architects dominate as usual, the latter earning all its income overseas. Together, they accounted for two thirds of the total, with Fosters alone responsible for almost half. As in the previous survey, along with Populous, WATG and PLP Architecture, these five accounted for almost 80 per cent of overseas earnings to UK offices.
With an increase of almost £14 million, Foster + Partners saw the biggest rise in overseas fees paid to UK offices compared with last year, followed by tp bennett (+£4.63 million) and Populous (+£3.98 million). While 23 practices reported higher architectural fees being paid to their UK office for projects undertaken overseas, 35 reported lower earnings. Architectural fee earnings were reported to overseas offices by 42 of this year’s AJ100, three more than last year. In total these offices earned £1.15 billion, down considerably from last year’s £2.15 billion. But the majority of AJ100 practices are focused on the UK rather than overseas, with 35 entirely dependent on the UK market, and another 31 earning at least 90 per cent of their income in the UK.
Of the 69 reporting overseas fee income to their UK or overseas offices, 85 per cent were active in the EU, slightly down on last year. There was little significant change in other regions, with the exception of a rise from 28 to 38 per cent for those working in Saudi Arabia. In the Americas, the proportion of those working in South and Central America rose from 19 per cent to 24 per cent, and from 41 to 44 per cent for those in the USA and Canada. The figure of 28 per cent reporting work in Russia relates to 2021, prior to its invasion of Ukraine.
AJ100 practices are impressively positive in outlook for 2022. Optimism levels increased significantly, with those declaring themselves ‘optimistic’ up from 58 per cent to 68 per cent, and those ‘very optimistic’ up from 5 per cent to 18 per cent. Only 2 per cent were ‘pessimistic’, down from 7 per cent last year. The share of ‘neutrals’ fell from 30 per cent to 12 per cent. Eighty-three of the AJ100 cohort expect to increase their architectural head count in the UK during 2022, while only one expects to become smaller. Four practices anticipate opening new offices in the UK this year and none anticipate closures. During 2021 nine practices opened new offices, while nine were closed.
Hybrid working had been widely adopted by the time ‘Plan B’ (working from home where possible) was introduced on 8 December 2021, with 72 per cent reporting that at least half their staff were working partly from home and partly from the office. Ten per cent of AJ100 practices report that their productivity was much higher than before, with 29 per cent stating that it was slightly higher, similar to the amount that believed productivity levels were maintained. Just under a quarter experienced a slight lowering, and only two reported a much lower level than before. While staff satisfaction levels at how practices had responded to the challenges of hybrid working remained high, it was not quite so high as for how practices had adapted to working from home, according to an anonymous survey of staff at AJ100 practices. The positive benefits of more agile ways of working cited included better inter-office working and communication, improved inclusivity though wider participation in meetings and reduced staff absences.
The latest AJ100 survey shows a little-changed picture of the usual mix of digital technologies and traditional craft skills. BIM has become (almost) ubiquitous, with 94 per cent of practices saying they make extensive use of it, almost the same as last year, and up from 85 per cent four years ago. The proportion of respondents making very extensive use of 3D computer modelling, rendering software and 2D CAD software also all increased, albeit slightly. There was little change in the use of model-making by hand – used by 90 per cent of practices – and extensive use of hand-sketching, which fell slightly from 58 to 56 per cent. AJ100 practices’ use of augmented reality, however, rose from 70 to 76 per cent, while virtual reality use was down slightly from 86 per cent to 83 per cent.
Our thanks to Bruce Tether, professor of management at the Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, for his analysis of the data
Tags AJ100 2022 AJ100 survey Analysis Brexit covid-19 diversity salaries Sustainability
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