2022 Perma Crisis. What next?

These end of year summaries are always a case of looking back and looking forward, reporting and predicting, in that context it is always interesting to re-read the previous years blog.

12 months ago Covid was still top of the agenda, was it over? Would we get back to working in an office? Today this seems a lifetime away as we lurch from one crisis to another. We didn’t expect to be witnessing a European war, with all the horror that comes with that, and whilst we knew that lockdown carried a cost we didn’t expect double digit inflation, rising energy prices, a collapsed pound, food shortages and galloping mortgage rates. A lot, it seems can happen in twelve months, not least three Prime Ministers.

In our industry the consequences of this political and subsequent economic upheaval are clear to see. The construction industry was hit hard by the Ukraine war, Britain imports steel, aluminium and other metals from this region and sanctions sent prices soaring. Projects that a year ago looked viable were now faced with construction inflation at 20%, this has an impact across the industry as a whole. The era of low interest rates is well and truly over and we are having to adapt to a new much tougher economic environment. No project can avoid so called “Value Engineering” – cost cutting by another name, and it can be brutal.

2022 has been another strong year for Stiff+Trevillion, with buildings completing, constructing, starting and planning consents being achieved. It is so important to have a healthy balance across the work stages. Our studio has continued to expand and we are now close to 70 people, most of whom enjoyed a weekend in Antwerp back in September, it was so good to get everyone back together in such an architecturally stimulating and enjoyable city.

2022 has been another strong year for Stiff+Trevillion, with buildings completing, constructing, starting and planning consents being achieved. It is so important to have a healthy balance across the work stages. Our studio has continued to expand and we are now close to 70 people, most of whom enjoyed a weekend in Antwerp back in September, it was so good to get everyone back together in such an architecturally stimulating and enjoyable city.

We retained or position in the AJ100 and have been shortlisted for numerous awards, but rather than list our achievements, I thought it would be interesting to focus on what we do outside of the studio walls. This year we have focussed on supporting programmes that will really make a difference to the future of our profession.

To conclude, despite the challenges 2022 has been an exciting year for us, and 2023 promises to continue in that vein.

Thanks to all of our Stiff+Trevillion colleagues for all their hard work, and to our fellow consultants, clients and friends who make our jobs so enjoyable.