Leading architecture and design magazine Dezeen asked 50 UK-based architectural practices about the impacts of Brexit, both on their businesses and the wider industry.
The survey found that nine out of 10 practices felt Brexit had negatively impacted them and 84% would want to re-join the EU if the option was available. It also revealed that Brexit had made recruitment more difficult, with 70% of practices saying it was now harder to hire staff from EU nations, and more than half had already experienced a loss of EU staff since Brexit.
Eddie Miles, CEO at Hyphen, says, “It comes as little surprise that the UK’s architects find little if nothing to commend Brexit and its aftermath. I have seen at first-hand how the end of free movement has affected opportunities for UK citizens to live and work outside the UK and of course it has limited the ability to recruit talent from the EU into the UK.
“Travelling between Hyphen’s eight European offices and talking to colleagues, it certainly seems that Brexit and indeed the madness of the Truss and Kwarteng days, has tarnished the UK’s standing abroad, but this doesn’t necessarily tell the whole story. The UK and London in particular, is still an influential and important market in our key sectors and as a vibrant commercial and cultural centre, London remains the place to meet clients, trial projects and find opportunity.
“As a practice with long-established offices in the EU, we are committed Europeans who are deeply sorry that Brexit came to pass. It may take a generational shift, but we are pretty sure that closer cultural, political and commercial relationships with our European neighbours are inevitable, including (hopefully) applying for re-admission to the EU.”