Council delays still a drag on sector despite growing confidence on workloads and staffing levels

Almost one in five practices have seen clients abandon their projects in the past three months due to planning delays, a RIBA study has found.

The institute asked firms whether delays in processing planning applications by local authorities had caused projects to be delayed or scrapped.

The survey found 19% of respondents reporting abandoned projects in the past three months, compared to 22% in 2023 and 7% in 2021.

planning

Planning delays are still causing many projects to be abandoned, according to the RIBA survey

It shows that the widespread planning delays at councils which emerged in the wake of the covid pandemic are still causing a drag on the sector.

RIBA also found more than half, 57%, of practices reporting projects delayed by up to six months, and 42% reporting projects delayed by more than six months, while just 18% had not seen any of their projects delayed.

The questions were asked as part of RIBA’s monthly sentiment survey, which otherwise found growing confidence in the sector with firms expecting more work and to hire more permanent staff.

The Future Trends survey’s workload index rose by one point to +2 in August, while its permanent staffing index rose by three points to +5. Any score above zero indicates practices on average expect work or staffing numbers to increase over the next three months.

Work expectations in the private housing sector, which had been by far the strongest work sector during the pandemic before collapsing over the past two years, has finally returned to positive territory after more than a year of pessimism.

Expectations of work in the commercial sector have also stayed positive for the fourth consecutive month, the longest run of optimism since June 2022.

RIBA head of economic research and analysis Adrian Malleson said the results were encouraging but showed the profession was still being held back by the lingering effects of planning delays and high interest rates.

“Overall, the speed with which planning applications are processed continues to hold back architects, the economy, and the creation of the buildings our country needs,” he said.

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