Six out of 10 British architects are seeing projects cancelled or stalled because of Brexit, says a new survey conducted by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).
The RIBA’s poll of more than 1,100 architects also highlighted rising materials and construction costs, coupled with recruitment and retention issues in the wake of the referendum result last June, GCR’s sister publication, Construction Manager, reports.
The survey, which opened in December, asked architects about how they expected the UK’s departure from the EU to affect them professionally. Just over 68% said they expected the effect to be "negative" or "somewhat negative".
A total of 61% of respondents said they had seen projects delayed or put on hold as a result of the referendum, while 37% said projects had been cancelled. Just 12% said new work had arisen because of the "new context".
Nearly 40% said there had been an increase in the cost of vital materials since June 23 and 35% said they had experienced rising construction costs from contractors. A little over a quarter of respondents said they had experienced challenges attracting or retaining non-UK EU nationals in the months since the vote.
RIBA also asked non-UK European Union nationals working in the architecture profession for their sentiments following the referendum. 40% said they had considered leaving the country in the wake of the vote.
Read more at Construction Manager.
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In the interests of completeness:
How many projects were proceeding prior to the vote on Brexit and of these, how many were cancelled?
What stages were the projects at on cancellation or suspension?
What was the estimated value of all projects compared with those that were cancelled?
In the absence of total project numbers and values, it is not possible to gauge the significance of the percentages quoted within this article.