Before the referendum, the architectural jobs market was particularly busy and salaries appeared to be rising at their fastest pace for a number of years. Following the result, however, the jobs market has seen a dramatic split. As a number of practices continue to rapidly expand, a growing percentage are also seeing projects put on hold and recruitment cut. To try and build a better picture of the current situation, 9B conducted a salary survey which received more than 1,200 responses from architectural staff across the UK.

1. Architectural Salary Survey
September 2016

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Foreword
Before the referendum, the architectural jobs market was particularly busy
and salaries appeared to be rising at their fastest pace for a number of
years. Following the result, however, the jobs market has seen a dramatic
split. As a number of practices continue to rapidly expand, a growing
percentage are also seeing projects put on hold and recruitment cut.
To try and build a better picture of the current situation, 9B conducted a
salary survey which received more than 1,200 responses from architectural
staff across the UK.
Although we are in uncharted territory with regards to Brexit, the survey
results have shown the last few years to be reasonably positive for the
architecture profession.
The greatest increases appear to have been for architects in the middle of
their career who were arguably the most affected by the last recession.
Project Architects are now earning just under £40,000 on average within the
larger practices and are also the most in demand when it comes to
recruitment.
Part 1s, however, have only just risen above £20,000 on average but within
this there were quite a number of responses close to the minimum wage.
With tuition fees increasing, this is surely a big concern for the industry and
the next generation of architects coming through.
One other figure that stuck out from the survey was the value of gaining your
Part 3. On average, recent Part 3s were paid around £3,850 more than Part
2s with the same number of years’ experience in practice. I imagine
however, the vast majority of these salary increases arose from moving
jobs, rather than as a direct consequence of gaining their qualification.
The results have been split by location, practice size, sector, role and years
of experience. Do please note that these salaries are averages and due to
various circumstances, some architectural staff are being paid quite a lot
more. In the current job market, this often occurs when someone has strong
Revit skills or excellent detailing experience, for example. Simply an
urgency to fill a role however and competition to find the best staff can also
see new employees paid more than existing staff.
The final section looks at the additional benefits practices offer which, in
many cases, can have a greater impact on someone’s life than the salary.
The ability to work flexible hours around family life is just one of many
advantages that could make one role more appealing than another.
I hope you find this a useful guide and if you would like to discuss further,
do please give us a call.
Paul Chappell
Founder of 9B Careers

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Location
Average London South East East South West North West Midlands North East Yorkshire Wales Scotland N. Ireland
Partner/Director £63,798 £68,825 £52,724 N/A £48,571 £60,833 £42,333 £66,250 £45,000 N/A N/A £51,332
Associate £53,953 £56,839 £46,400 £51,550 £45,925 £50,000 £42,500 N/A N/A N/A £44,800 N/A
Senior Architect £45,418 £45,480 £52,462 £39,500 £45,333 £40,800 £37,875 N/A £37,000 £39,900 N/A N/A
Project Architect £37,643 £39,107 £35,732 £34,000 £31,000 £37,000 £34,300 £32,000 £30,833 £34,333 £37,125 £26,767
Recent Part 3 £32,377 £33,744 £32,680 £33,500 £28,000 £24,500 £29,275 £27,000 £23,000 N/A £22,600 £25,083
Part 2 £27,382 £29,543 £25,955 £26,099 £26,550 £24,683 £22,944 £23,100 £21,900 £24,460 £22,023 £25,472
Part 1/Year Out £20,220 £21,369 £20,929 £19,000 £18,412 £18,250 £20,102 £16,500 £17,999 N/A £15,000 £16,000
Difference* 3.8% 2.9% -6.7% -8.4% -10.9% -11.4% -16.2% -19.8% -10.6% -17.7% -20.7%
*The difference from average is only taken from Part 1s to Senior Architects, due to larger variations at Associate and Partner/Director levels.
N/A: Not enough data was received to form a sensible average.
Due to the number of architectural staff working in London (63% of those who completed the survey), the average salary is very much influenced by the capital.
The cost of living in London, however, is notably higher than elsewhere and according to www.expatistan.com living in Scotland would be 30% cheaper.

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Practice Size
Average 1-10 11-35 36-65 66-100 100+
Partner/Director £63,798 £50,239 £67,083 £75,781 £84,792 £82,444
Associate £53,953 £59,000 £53,697 £49,671 £59,200 £52,868
Senior Architect £45,418 £42,167 £41,960 £47,202 £46,778 £47,323
Project Architect £37,643 £35,029 £36,819 £38,417 £39,727 £39,453
Recent Part 3 £32,377 £29,262 £31,013 £32,310 £35,063 £35,848
Part 2 £27,382 £25,658 £27,143 £27,742 £29,602 £29,400
Part 1/Year Out £20,220 £18,947 £19,287 £20,176 £21,091 £22,250
Difference from average* -7.3% -4.2% 1.7% 5.7% 6.9%
*The difference from average is only taken from Part 1s to Senior Architects due to larger variations at Associate and Partner/Director levels.
The old adage of the larger practices paying more still comes across strongly within the survey results. It is notable, however, just how buoyant the 66-100
person practices are, especially at senior levels where salaries appear to be exceeding the levels being earned in the 100+ firms.
At the other end of the scale, Partner/Director salaries within practices of 1-10 people are most likely being pulled down by sole practitioners who have started
new businesses in the last couple of years.

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Sector
Years of experience
Average 0-5 6-10 11+
Architectural Practice £35,234 £27,684 £38,899 £53,001
Client Side £45,368 £25,531 £35,750 £84,800
Contractor £47,079 £34,128 £39,650 £70,221
Developer £44,447 £30,855 £59,667 £73,081
Government £40,010 £30,855 £36,000 £49,833
£27,684
£38,899
£53,001
£25,531
£35,750
£84,800
£34,128
£39,650
£70,221
£30,855
£59,667
£73,081
£30,855
£36,000
£49,833
£0
£10,000
£20,000
£30,000
£40,000
£50,000
£60,000
£70,000
£80,000
£90,000
0-5 6-10 11+
AvwerageSalary
Years of experience in practice
Practice Client Side Contractor Developer Government

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Role
Years of experience
Average 0-5 6-10 11+
Architecture (Part 1- Partner/Director) £35,715 £27,818 £38,806 £56,052
Architectural Technician/Technologist £32,147 £25,648 £32,000 £39,854
Interior Designer £36,088 £25,642 £33,500 £63,125
BIM Manager £45,045 £39,500 £45,500 £46,900
Project Manager £55,533 £40,000 £48,200 £65,856
£27,818
£38,806
£56,052
£25,648
£32,000
£39,854
£25,642
£33,500
£63,125
£39,500
£45,500 £46,900
£40,000
£48,200
£65,856
£0
£10,000
£20,000
£30,000
£40,000
£50,000
£60,000
£70,000
0-5 6-10 11+
AvwerageSalary
Years of experience
Architecture Technician/Technologist Interior Designer BIM Manager Project Manager

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Experience
This graph represents the average salary of architectural staff (Part 1s to Partners/Directors), depending on the number of years’ experience gained within
architectural practice.
£18,759
£24,059
£26,473
£28,805
£31,313
£35,554
£39,081
£49,826
£63,280
£0
£10,000
£20,000
£30,000
£40,000
£50,000
£60,000
£70,000
0 1 2 3 4 5 6-10 11-20 21+
AverageSalary
Years of experience in practice

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Additional Benefits
Although this report focusses on salaries, many practices offer additional benefits which can have a far bigger impact on peoples’ lives and dramatically improve
staff retention. Stephen Davy Peter Smith Architects for example run a nursery with subsidised childcare for their staff. In addition to this, long standing
employees are given additional holiday allowance and junior members of staff are also supported through paid study leave and payment of Part 3 course fees.
Another recent development has been the number of practices becoming Employee Owned. Formation Architects formed a trust earlier this year which means
the shares of the company are no longer owned by any individual or group, but are held ‘in trust’ by an independent body.
“The purpose of the Trust is to ensure that the company is run for the benefit of our employees. Profits are shared among the staff according to seniority, and
the trust status means that we are able to offer certain tax advantages when benefits are distributed.
But perhaps the most important benefit of trust ownership concerns succession from one generation to the next. Because there are no shares to buy or sell it
will be easier for future generations to gain a controlling interest in the practice without the need to purchase shares. The aim is to attract the best architectural
staff to make their careers with us.
The trust model reinforces Formation Architects’ philosophy of collaboration and means that it is in the mutual interest of all our staff to work well together to
make a successful company.”
Formation Architects also offers an enhanced maternity package and has a 50:50 ratio of male to female staff.
Feedback on benefits within other practices include:
Barr Gazetas
“Nurturing staff is a key focus of our practice. We recognise individuals’ needs and help balance their professional work around this. We have full time and part-
time roles, internships and work experience students. We have always tried to provide the right culture at work to suit our diversity and flexible working
arrangements. Staff outings, in-house lectures and CPD are a key part of this.
We are members of many benefit schemes including childcare vouchers, cycle-to-work, and season ticket loans, on top of time served increasing holiday
allowance and pension contributions. We particularly enjoy supporting our staff on courses, training and with Part 3 fees. Being based just off Regent Street
means we’re also able to provide membership to the Regent Street Association card which offers a 10-20% discount from many retailers and restaurants.
We rely on our staff and recognising these needs goes a long way towards staff retention and creating a healthy and happy place to work.”
Jon Eaglesham - Managing Director.

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Granit Chartered Architects
“For our more established members of staff we offer a range of benefits including Part 3 sponsorship, payment of RIBA and ARB fees, healthcare scheme with
Vitality, pensions, bonus scheme for management level, bike to work, some flexi working, mobile phone contract, flu jabs, childcare vouchers and extra days
holiday for every year worked after 3 years. At Christmas we offer additional holiday on top of allowance.
The practice also has an active work/social programme, including a summer and Christmas party, trips to exhibitions and previously an office trip to Berlin”
James Munro – Director
pH+
“At pH+ we see the retention of our incredibly talented staff as paramount and do everything we can to ensure that the massive contribution that they make is
properly recognised and reflected. We are very proud of our flat design hierarchy and undertake regular design reviews where all members of team are invited
to contribute regardless of relative level or job description. We annually review salaries by benchmarking against peer practices and immediately recognise
qualification milestones through salary reviews. Our company pension scheme and office policies in regards to maternity leave etc exceed statutory levels. We
ensure that all our Architects maintain close links with the wider profession through subsidised ARB and RIBA subscriptions. Succession and career planning
is central to our ethos and we regular review and mentor our team to ensure they progress up through our organisation. We encourage them to pursue individual
areas of interest, which we see as enriching the practice, by offering flexible working patterns and financial support where relevant. We try to be as transparent
as possible with staff encouraged to engage in all aspects of our business with no “glass ceilings”. Through this we have been able to ensure that even in a
practice of 25 clear career paths can be identified with sufficient flexibility to accommodate external draws and influences whilst ensuring we retain our collected
experience, ethos, enthusiasm and drive. We are very proud of our 50% female / male ratio with this increasing to 60% in our senior management positions in
the London studio.”
Andy Puncher – Director
John McAslan + Partners
“At John McAslan + Partners, we acknowledge that our staff are looking for increasingly flexible working arrangements and we are as responsive as possible
to this - accommodating staff sabbaticals, career breaks, teaching, childcare and training courses. It’s also really important to acknowledge the increasingly
high cost of living in London, as benchmarking studies show that salaries across the industry have not necessarily kept up with this.
Our benefits packages have changed to reflect this, recent additions including a rental deposit scheme to help staff with the cost of moving house and a shopping
‘perks’ programme which cuts the cost of groceries and other day-to-day expenses rather than big ticket items.
We believe it’s really important to support our staff in every way possible – this is key to engagement, retention and creating a great working relationship.”
Katie Atkinson - HR Co-ordinator

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About 9B Careers
9B is a specialist architectural and design recruitment consultancy with 15 years’ industry experience. Following the referendum result, the architectural jobs
market has certainly become harder for jobseekers and finding the right people for the right role takes experience, knowledge and a large number of relevant
contacts. In creating the perfect match, we aim to provide practices with a strong platform to grow and candidates with the best opportunities to progress their
careers. Everything we do at 9B is about creating long term relationships for the future.
If you would like to find out more about how 9B works and how we can support you, please give us a call on +44 (0)20 8004 0369 or go to our website at
www.9Bcareers.com.
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