Half of all architects 'will lose their jobs'

HALF of Scotland's architects have lost or face losing their jobs, one of the industry's leading figures claimed yesterday.

Nick Barley, director of the Lighthouse, the National Centre for Architecture and Design, said he had no hard numbers but the 50 per cent figure was widely circulating in the trade.

Mr Barley called on the Scottish Government to help an industry hit by the economic downturn and consequent collapse of the building industry.

"Last year we contributed about £1.5 billion to Scotland's economy; this year it won't be same," he said.

"The word around the industry is that about 50 per cent of architects are unemployed or about to be unemployed."

He called on Mike Russell, the new culture minister, and John Swinney, the finance minister, to act to confront the problem.

"I don't want to sow the seeds of panic but I want the government to understand this is a major priority," he said.

The Edinburgh architect Malcolm Fraser, whose firm made lay-offs last year, said: "The situation is of great concern to everybody, and it is important that figures like Nick Barley talk about the reality of things.

"Talking privately, everybody is much more concerned than they will admit in public."

He called the loss of architects' jobs a "canary in the coal mine" that would shortly be followed by construction professionals, builders and contractors.

But Arnie Dunn, president of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland, the architects' professional organisation, downplayed Mr Barley's remarks.

He said architects in Scotland were protected by the large share of public-sector work unaffected by the recession. "It's not really all that bad," he said.

There are about 3,000 practising architects in Scotland. In a Rias survey in November, 49.6 per cent of architects responding predicted a "decrease in workload".

That was a more optimistic outlook than the "Armageddon" predictions in other industries, Mr Dunn said.

"That could be explained by the fact that we in Scotland have quite a large public-sector work-load, it is 60 per cent public-sector funded," he added.

"There are a lot of architects working on health buildings, universities, schools, council projects, all the public-sector works that take care of people."

The losses from the credit crunch would come in the 40 per cent of private work, he said.

"If you are in housing, or commercially related work, there have been some problems … it's the private-sector funding that is having the blockage."

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PROFILE

THE Lighthouse, Scotland's National Centre for Architecture, Design and the City, opened in 1999 in Glasgow. It runs exhibitions and aims to be a national voice for the sector. Nick Barley, a former editor of Blueprint architecture and design magazine, was appointed director in 2007. Last year – although the Lighthouse struggled with a budget deficit – Mr Barley helped organise Scotland's entry for the prestigious Venice Architecture Biennale.