AJ100 survey reveals UK’s top practices employ more architects than ever

The findings of the latest AJ100 survey provide a revealing snapshot of a changing profession. As a cohort, the AJ100 now employs more architects than ever, suggesting the profession has bounced back from the pandemic – and then some. However, practices are operating differently. Hybrid home/office working is the new normal. Practices are continuing efforts to evolve their approaches to sustainability. And the cost of the energy crisis has thrown up new challenges.

Our thanks to Bruce Tether, professor of management at the Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, for his analysis of the data.

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Overview

The UK’s largest practices have recovered from the impact of the pandemic, according to the findings of the latest AJ100 survey

The number of architects employed in the UK by AJ100 practices has soared to a record high, surpassing the previous peak in 2008 as the profession continues to bounce back after the pandemic. AJ100 survey data for 2022 reveals an increase of 5.5 per cent in the number of architects employed, which at 7,425 is the highest number in the survey’s 28-year history.

AJ100 practices are not only getting bigger, they are getting more diverse, with architects from ethnic minority backgrounds rising from just under 12 per cent to 13.4 per cent after several years of near stagnation. The percentage of women architects rose marginally to 35.9 per cent.

The total number of architectural staff permanently employed by AJ100 practices rose by 6 per cent to 13,335. This growth accompanies an 11 per cent rise in aggregate architecture fee income to UK offices. This rose to £1.5  billion from £1.36 billion, and follows an 8 per cent rise the previous year. Architectural fees from overseas projects paid to UK offices rose by £25 million to nearly £362 million.

Excluding consolidations, 10 practices reported opening a new office in the UK in 2022, mostly in the north and west of the UK. There were no closures in the UK, compared with nine the year before.

Despite a positive overall picture of increasing architectural staff numbers and fees, those surveyed were less optimistic in outlook at the end of 2022 than at the start. Fifty-nine per cent of practices declared themselves to be optimistic with a further 3 per cent very optimistic, a fall from comparative figures of 68 per cent and 18 per cent the previous year.

Challenges facing practices include the impact of Brexit on recruitment, with 36 practices saying they had been either substantially or severely affected (up from 26) – Foster + Partners reported spending £1 million a year on visa applications and the time involved processing them. The rising cost of energy also had an impact –13 practices moved to more energy-efficient premises last year, while 40 compensated their employees for higher bills.

Aside from one-off payments, underlying salaries for architectural staff rose at a rate of between 3 and 4 per cent across different job levels with the exception of partners/directors, whose median pay remained the same.

Hybrid working has become the new normal, with 86 per cent of practices allowing most of their staff to work from a combination of home and office.

The number of AJ100 practices measuring the carbon impact of their work continues to increase – 88 per cent now measure operational emissions to some extent, up from 80 per cent the previous year, with 10 per cent always doing so. Twelve per cent never do so, compared with 24 per cent two years earlier. Embodied carbon is measured to some extent by 94 per cent of practices, although only 7 per cent always do this. The percentage never measuring it is 6 per cent – three years ago, this was 35 per cent.  Seventy-eight per cent of practices measure their own carbon footprint, up from 67 per cent in 2021.

For the first time, the AJ100 survey collected data on B Corp certification and use of AI. By the end of 2022, seven practices had achieved B Corp status – less than two years after Stride Treglown became the first AJ100 practice to do so, suggesting an increasing desire to balance profit with social and environmental performance.

Asked about AI, 44 per cent of AJ100 practices reported using it to some extent, with 4 per cent doing so extensively – an important new trend that could have a significant impact on architectural practice.

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Top 10s

Which practices earn the most from UK-based architecture projects, employ the most architectural staff, and employ the most architects overseas?

Architecture fee income for UK-based projects delivered by UK offices

Practice	AJ100 ranking 2023	Architecture fees paid to UK offices for UK-based projects for 2022
BDP	2	£54,776,000
Allford Hall Monaghan Morris	4	£38,318,000
tp bennett	=14	£37,039,000
Atkins	=5	£35,900,000
Foster + Partners	1	£32,524,000
AECOM	16	£31,835,000
Sheppard Robson	7	£30,900,000
Hawkins\Brown	9	£26,019,000
Allies and Morrison	8	£25,790,000
Ryder Architecture	=17	£25,751,000

Although BDP is ranked second in the overall AJ100 rankings, it once again scores highest for architecture fees for UK-based projects paid to UK offices. The practice has extended its lead over second-placed Allford Hall Monaghan Morris after a rise in fees from £50 million to £54.8 million. Unusually this year, overall AJ100 leader Foster + Partners makes an appearance in this fees top 10, in fifth place.

Architectural staff in the UK

Practice	AJ100 ranking 2023	Architectural staff in the UK as of 31 December 2022
Foster + Partners	1	1,193
BDP	2	435
AECOM	16	395
Zaha Hadid Architects	3	391
Allford Hall Monaghan Morris	4	386
Atkins	=5	351
Sheppard Robson	7	336
tp bennett	=14	293
Grimshaw	=5	265
Allies and Morrison	8	260
Stride Treglown	11	260

Fosters retains its customary place at the top of the rankings for architectural staff with a 29 per cent increase in numbers, further widening its gap over second-placed BDP. AECOM moves into third place after increasing its architectural staff by 30 during 2022.

Architects employed overseas

Practice	AJ100 ranking 2023	Architects employed overseas as of 31 December 2022
Perkins & Will	=48	789
Jacobs	26	561
HOK	=77	442
Arcadis	27	272
Populous	47	254
Atkins	=5	231
Grimshaw	=5	205
Chapman Taylor	=32	189
Arup Architecture	=38	174
BDP	2	132

Perkins&Will once again tops the rankings for architects employed by AJ100 practices overseas, adding an extra 82 during 2022 to increase its lead over second placed Jacobs to 228. HOK remains in third place having added 38 architects.

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Diversity

After years of little change, ethnic minority representation in the largest practices is finally edging up. But the percentage of women architects has risen only slightly

The number of architects from ethnic minority backgrounds employed by AJ100 practices rose significantly in 2022 to 993, a rise of 18.8 per cent on the year before. This equates to 13.4 per cent of the total number of architects employed in the UK by the AJ100 cohort. The increase far outstripped the 3.7 per cent rise in the number of white architects.

The figures show that AJ100 practices are more likely to employ architects from ethnic minority backgrounds than the profession as a whole. According to ARB, 88 per cent of registered architects in the UK are white, compared with AJ100 levels of 86.5 per cent. This compares with 83 per cent of the UK population as a whole.

There is a wide range in the proportion of architects from ethnic minority backgrounds at the AJ100 practices. They account for more than a third of architects in three practices: Darnton B3, Zaha Hadid Architects and PLP Architecture. However, five practices reported employing no architects from ethnic minority backgrounds and another three said they employed just one, while six practices chose not to report this statistic.

The proportion of women architects employed in the UK within the AJ100 cohort has risen marginally to 35.9 per cent following an increase of 169, similar to last year’s increase of 163. This percentage for women architects is slightly better than the profession as a whole – ARB statistics report that 31 per cent of registered architects are women.

Among individual practices, 73 report that women constitute at least 30 per cent of their employed architects (the same as last year, and up 5 from 68 two years ago).  Meanwhile women constitute at least half of all UK architects in nine practices (compared with five last year). Remarkably, almost 80 per cent of architects working at Darling Associates are women (78 per cent), followed by 61 per cent at dMFK Architects.

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Sustainability

AJ100 practices are slowly growing in carbon literacy as sustainable ways of working become more established. But there are still some notable exceptions

AJ100 data for 2022 shows a continued increase in sustainable practices. Two thirds of practices say they frequently advocate retrofit to clients over demolition compared with 63 per cent last year and 55 per cent in the year before that. The remaining 34 per cent did so occasionally.

Having a sustainability team is almost universal – 95 per cent of practices now have one, compared with 80 per cent three years ago. Eighty-five per cent of practices have directors of sustainability, up from 79 per cent the previous year and 67 per cent three years ago.

Over four-fifths of practices claimed to have a specific approach to delivering sustainability on their built projects (slightly up from the previous year). Sustainability research and development is increasingly commonplace, and is now being undertaken by 77 per cent of practices, up from 72 per cent. Seventy eight per cent of practices measure their carbon footprint, up from 67 per cent in 2021 and 45 per cent in 2019.

In relation to specialist sustainability staff, the biggest increase has been in the use of Passivhaus-trained designers – now employed by 70 per cent of AJ100 practices compared with 62 per cent the year before and 40 per cent just three years before.

Data for 2022 shows some progress with how often practices measure the operational emissions and embodied carbon of their projects. The percentages of practices never measuring these have fallen to 12 per cent and 6 per cent respectively, compared with 20 per cent and 12 per cent in 2021. There is less progress, however, on increasing this practice. While for embodied carbon, the percentage frequently measuring this figure rose from 33 per cent to 38 per cent, in the case of operational carbon, the percentage of firms frequently measuring emissions fell from 35 per cent to 34 per cent.

There has been little progress on increasing post-occupancy performance evaluation (POE). As per the previous year, only one practice said it always undertook POEs while the percentage that did so frequently fell from 18 to 11 per cent. Fifteen per cent of AJ100 practices say they never undertook POEs – the same as last year.  Nearly three-quarters report carrying these out occasionally compared with 66 per cent in the previous year.

There is little change in how often practices assess the human and environmental impact of the materials they use. The proportion that always or frequently measure this in their projects was 61 per cent for 2022, slightly down on the 63 per cent of the previous year. However, the proportion never doing this fell slightly from 10 per cent to 9 per cent.

Five AJ100 practices are yet to sign up to any of the key sustainability initiatives – compared with 10 the previous year and 17 the year before that. Architects Declare continues to be the most popular – 87 of the AJ100 are now signatories, up from 79 the year before. Seventy have joined the RIBA’s 2030 Climate Challenge. Membership levels of the UK Green Building Council (42) and the London Energy Transformation Initiative (40) have also increased. Thirteen AJ100 practices have joined the UN-backed Race to Zero global campaign. Six practices have joined all five of these initiatives.

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Salaries

While the salaries of practice bosses flatlined, architectural staff at all other levels saw modest pay increases

Salaries rose within AJ100 practices in 2022 with the exception of partners/directors, whose median pay remained the same at £95,000. Associates’ median pay is now £57,000, up £2,000 from last year, while median pay for architects is £42,300, £1,300 more than last year. Median pay for Part 3 students is up by almost £900 to just under £31,000, while typical year-out pay rose from £23,000 to £24,000.

While, on average, bosses have not been paid more than last year (median £95,000), four practices reported paying their partners/directors more than £150,000 per year, compared with only one last year. No practices reported paying their partners/directors less than £60,000 – unlike last year when two did. There was a big rise – from 18 to 32 – in practices where associates typically earned at least £60,000.

The employee survey revealed similar levels of staff satisfaction towards salary to last year, with 69 per cent either satisfied or very satisfied despite the significant increase in the cost of living, with which none of these pay rises has kept pace. Forty practices in the AJ100 compensated their employees for higher energy bills.

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Fees

While there has been little change in fee rates over the year, median fee earnings per architect and architectural staff member rose markedly

Compared with last year, median fee rates show either minor changes or no change at all. Refurbishment rates seem to have held up fairly well in 2022, especially those for traditional contracts. But there has been a decline/stagnation in new-build fees for traditional design-and-build contracts above £10 million.

Seventy-two AJ100 practices reported that they had only increased their fee rates (mostly to a small extent) compared with 45 the previous year. However 23 had only decreased their fee rates, a sharp rise on seven the year before. Seven practices both increased and reduced their fee rates.

Median fees per member of UK architectural staff were up by over £6,000 to £99,543 for 2022 – a new high. This compares with £93,308 the previous year and £96,830 the year before that.

Populous leads the way once again, followed by Hopkins, Foster + Partners and Zaha Hadid Architects. Perkins&Will and Scott Browning also achieved fees per architectural staff member of over £150,000 – 50 per cent above the median for the AJ100 as a whole.

In terms of architectural fees per qualified architect (UK offices only), the median AJ100 practice reported earning £175,000, a rise of £15,000 on the year before. As per last year, Populous, Perkins&Will and Foster + Partners all reported earning more than £400,000 in architectural fees per architect in the UK. At the other end of the scale, only one practice earned less than £60,000 per member of its architectural staff, compared with two the year before. No practices earned less than £100,000 per architect, compared with six the previous year.

Of the 95 practices in both this and last year’s AJ100, 60 increased their income per architectural staff in the UK, while 35 had reduced incomes per member of architectural staff. Calculated as income per architect, 62 practices saw increases and 32 had reduced incomes per architect, with one unchanged.

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Architectural assistants and apprentices

Numbers of architectural assistants and apprentices at AJ100 practices have risen significantly

The number of architectural apprentices at AJ100 practices shot up by 31 per cent to 291 during 2022. While 58 practices have at least one (up from 53 last year), Atkins once again employed the most with 72, followed by Fosters, which has 19.

There was also a sharp increase in the numbers of Part I and Part 2 architectural assistants, rising by 24 per cent and 16 per cent respectively. As was the case the previous year, Fosters had by far the most Part 1s and Part 2s with 272 (78 + 194), followed by BDP with 97 (47 + 50) and Zaha Hadid Architects with 83 (2 + 81).

Architectural assistants and apprentices now account for just under 20 per cent of the AJ100’s collective architectural staff in the UK, up from 18 per cent the previous year.  But at five practices the proportion is more than double this: Populous, Ridge & Partners, rg+p, BPTW and Architype. At 12 practices, they constitute less than 10 per cent, while they make up less than 3 per cent at AECOM, Fairhursts, Jacobs and Rolfe Judd.

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Rising energy costs

Practices have responded in a variety of ways to the cost-of-energy crisis

AJ100 practices have taken a variety of measures in response to the cost-of-energy crisis. Thirty-eight per cent said that they had at least partially compensated their employees for higher energy bills. This ranges from inflation-matching salary increases to one-off cost-of-living payments, and the maintaining of subsidies for home energy use as first introduced during the pandemic.

Thirty-one per cent of practices have taken steps to improve the energy efficiency of their offices, with actions including improving insulation and replacing lighting with low wattage LEDs.  Twenty-two per cent have adjusted their building management system. Twelve per cent relocated to more energy-efficient premises. While some practices have taken more than one of these steps, surprisingly, more than a quarter of the cohort appear to have taken none of these actions.

A survey of AJ100 employees suggests that staff are reasonably appreciative of their practices’ responses, with 62 per cent either fairly or very satisfied compared with 16 per cent dissatisfied or very dissatisfied.

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Overseas work

While more practices are finding work abroad, the same heavy-hitters continue to dominate overseas earnings

Architectural fees from overseas projects paid to AJ100 practices’ UK offices totalled nearly £362 million in 2022, up £25 million from the previous year. Sixty-five practices contributed to this total compared with 59 the year before.

Foster + Partners and Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) continue to lead these earnings. Fosters alone is responsible for about half the total, while ZHA contributes almost 20 per cent. Populous reported that its UK offices earned almost £13 million from overseas projects, while PLP Architecture earned nearly £12 million. These four accounted for over three-quarters of all overseas earnings to UK offices. Unlike the majority of the UK offices of AJ100 practices, which are focused on the UK market, these practices earn most to nearly all of their income to UK offices from overseas projects.

Architectural fee earnings were reported to overseas offices by 40 of this year’s AJ100, and totalled £1.19 billion, slightly higher than last year’s £1.15 billion. This total is dominated by a few firms – Perkins&Will, Arcadis, HOK and Jacobs – which together account for almost 80 per cent of the total.   

Of the 69 firms reporting overseas fee income to their UK or overseas offices, 86 per cent were active in the EU, very similar to last year’s 85 per cent. There was a rise from 79 to 83 per cent of those active in western EU and a fall from 48 to 41 per cent of those active in the eastern EU.

Forty-four per cent were active in the UAE compared with 38 per cent the previous year, while 46 per cent were active in North America, up from 44 per cent. Whereas in 2021, 28 per cent of practices that were active overseas had earnings in Russia, following the invasion of Ukraine, only two AJ100 practices were still active there.

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Outlook

AJ100 practices seem to be cautiously optimistic although less so than they were a year earlier

Asked to grade their expectations for their business in 2023 on a scale ranging between very pessimistic and very optimistic, 59 per cent declared themselves to be optimistic with a further 3 per cent very optimistic.

However, these levels are down from last year’s respective figures of 69 per cent and 18 per cent. While the level of pessimism grew from 2 to 6 per cent, an increasing chunk – 32 per cent – were neutral, considerably up on last year’s 12 per cent. Perhaps last year, which involved emerging from the Covid pandemic, was unusually optimistic and this year is more of a return to normality.

The proportion of practices expecting to increase their headcount in 2023 was 63 per cent, compared with 80 per cent the previous year. Six practices anticipate opening new UK offices during 2023, while two expect to close offices.

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Hybrid working

Architects are overwhelmingly satisfied about the switch to hybrid working following the pandemic

Most practices have adopted hybrid office-home working, though nearly three quarters mandate a minimum number of days in the office each week. None insisted that everyone returned to only in-office working, and only 11 reported that the majority of their staff worked entirely from their office.

Fifty-eight practices reported that nobody was working entirely from home, and of the remainder, typically a very small proportion of the workforce were working entirely from home.

Of the 73 per cent that mandate set days in the office, most require three or four days a week. Narrative survey responses suggest a large amount of flexibility, dependent on team and project requirements. Some practices expect staff to come in more often while some are more liberal with just one or two days per week required. Some also expect senior staff (and probationers) to be in more often.

The results of the employees’ survey that accompanies the main AJ100 survey suggest that in general staff are happy with these arrangements. Sixty-four per cent of respondents said they were very satisfied with how their practices had adapted to hybrid working, and 65 per cent were very satisfied with the degree of flexibility they had over their working arrangements. Practices with the highest levels of satisfaction were those with particularly liberal policies towards working hours. The practice with the lowest level of satisfaction had one of the stricter policies, requiring four days a week in-office working.

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Techniques

Practices are embracing the latest digital technologies while there is a gradual decline in traditional techniques

AJ100 practices were surveyed for the first time on their use of artificial intelligence/machine learning. This revealed that 44 per cent are using it to some extent, mostly to a limited degree. Meanwhile, 83 per cent made some use of virtual reality, with a fifth making extensive use of this technique. Nearly three quarters of practices used augmented-reality technology, a slight decrease on the year before.

A slight decline in some of the more traditional techniques can be detected. While all but one of the AJ100 practices reported using hand sketching, fewer than half of all practices do so extensively (47 per cent) compared with 56 per cent last year and 58 per cent the year before that.

Model-making by hand is used by slightly fewer practices, although 88 per cent still make some use of it. There is little change in the overall use of 3D printing (86 per cent), although there is a 4 per cent increase in those using it extensively (28 per cent).

Use of carpentry is in decline, employed by only 20 per cent (down from 24 per cent last year), and extensively by 4 per cent compared with 6 per cent the year before.

Film-making is also less used, with a decline of 5 per cent in practices using it at all and a 3 per cent fall in those making extensive use of this technique.