02-08-2010 - ACE Survey: Optimism grows but continued lack of confidence in Public sector.

The Architects' Council of Europe's (ACE) has completed its sixth quarterly survey on the impact of the global financial crisis on the architectural sector in Europe. The results show an increasing optimism that work in the private sector will grow in the coming months but a continued lack of confidence in the public sector.

The ACE Survey received over 3,350 responses from all countries in Europe and the results have been weighted in order to give statistical reliability. The results show that 44% of those who responded considered that the situation at the current time is bad or very bad - a figure that is down from 65% at the time of the last survey. In fact the current level of pessimism about the situation is the lowest since the survey started in April 2009.

In relation to expectations about an increase in work over the coming three months 29% of respondents stated that they expect to see an increase. This is down from 46% at the time of the last survey in April 2010 and represents a continued trend of optimism.

For the first time since the ACE commenced these quarterly surveys the number of offices that expect to see an increase in staff numbers over the coming three months is greater than the number of offices that expect a decrease. In fact 23% of respondents believe that an increase in staff will occur in their offices over the coming three months while only 15% believe that there will be a decrease in the same period.

It seems, in conclusion, that the architectural profession in Europe believes that the worst of the impact of the global financial crisis for this sector is over and it will be very informative to see whether this trend continues at the time of the next ACE survey scheduled to take place in September 2010.

To download the full result of the survey, please go to:

http://www.ace-cae.eu/public/contents/getdocument/content_id/880

or contact Adrian Joyce, Director at adrian.joyce@ace-cae.eu