Roundtable: A pulse check during the COVID-19 recession
The COVID-19 pandemic could be the biggest global disruption in generations, and its effects are not limited to health and the economy. Its long tail could have implications for many areas of the built environment.
The profession is at a crossroads, a transformational moment that could lead to a rethink of both its model of practice and how to remake the world. This roundtable seeks to explore how architects can not only survive but pivot to play a vital role in a post-pandemic world.
Linda Cheng: The architecture profession stands on a precarious ledge just now, as clients abandon their projects and the government wage subsidy – which is supporting the incomes of as many as 60 percent of architects – starts to taper off. Are we in a temporary pause or at the edge of a cliff?
Jon Clements: Certainly, we [Jackson Clements Burrows Architects] have been hit pretty hard by COVID-19. Some of the decisions we made were based on our experience of dealing with previous downturns. This downturn is different. But we’ve learned that you need to respond pretty quickly, otherwise the financial impacts are longer lasting and deeper cutting.
We applied for Job Keeper and, fortunately, we received it. Based on our assessments, we were about 40 percent down on our revenue this year compared to last year. That’s not unusual in the current environment – it’s fairly common for practices around our (medium to large) scale. But Job Keeper really is holding off the impact of that decline in revenue. Peter Raisbeck: In the ACA [Association of Consulting Architects] survey that we did in late August, 67 percent of respondents were from small practices. From a small-practice perspective, some people will fall off the cliff, if they were already marginal in terms of their revenues and profits. But I’m not sure if everyone’s going to. My gut feeling is that we might see somewhere between 10 and 20 percent of practices changing their model or ceasing to practice or doing things differently – particularly practices of less than five people.
LC: Kate, you’re in Western Australia, which is a lucky state in terms of how it got control of its COVID-19 situation. What are you experiencing over there?
Kate FitzGerald: Lucky is in the eye of the beholder! Small practices in WA have had an ecosystem of economic downturn since 2015.
Having said that, we were, before COVID-19
