ENGLAND MARKET UPDATE - MAY 2010

The latest news from London comes hot off the press from one or long standing contacts Dave Madden from Mustard Jobs in the UK. Thanks for providing us with such great insight Dave!

London
London is a changing place. The job boards are filling up and firms seem to be hiring again! A number of large commercial developers are starting to turn their wheels, which has put in motion a few key schemes, namely the Walkie-Talkie, Heron Tower and even Park House on Oxford Street. A number of the larger Architectural firms that had been hit very hard in the recession are now ‘tentatively’ recruiting again, although salaries are probably 10% lower than they were, minimum. Although we still have to wait for the general election fallout the general consensus on the street is that there is more opportunity available. Even though the candidate pool is getting smaller the client expectation is still very high and if the client wants the client expects! In fact they even want extra in some instances. Public funded projects are still keeping a number of firms very busy although there is a degree of nervousness due to the impending election and then possible funding cuts in this arena. Rates of pay are also being scrutinised at the moment as a couple of firms have been caught paying below minimum wage and there is a serious backlash to this kind of practice... Obviously the client blames low fee income from projects. So summing up... London is brighter place! Getting the first quarter out of the way, with schemes moving forward and client confidence growing, is making it a safer bet in getting work! It is also worth mentioning that the majority of work is contract or fixed term contract at the moment with extended probation in any permanent work.

Outside London
There is movement in the market however this does seem to be largely constrained to the South East of the UK. The home counties and the regions surrounding London are busier that the rest of the UK with only occasional individual clients looking in areas such as the Midlands and North West. There continue to be a lot of people out of work within architecture and applications for advertised vacancies are still getting a huge response, irrespective of the advert being a direct employer or a recruitment agency. However there is some positivity out there but clients are wary of committing to long term permanent staff at the moment and the majority of work is on a contract basis. Sectors showing a resurgence seem to be residential, with a large increase in the activity amongst the residential developers. Land purchasing departments are very busy but this does take time to filter back down to the design and technical teams, or in fact external consultants (architectural firms) that also will benefit from this work.