With the cost of living crisis and inflation currently running at 6.2%, we are getting asked a lot about what impact this is likely to have on architectural salaries. Sadly it often feels these are very detached from the official inflation figures. When looking at a report I produced back in 2005, recently qualified architects in London were being paid around £28,000. If this salary kept up with inflation, recent Part 3s in 2021 would have been on £44,486.47. Our last survey, however, showed this figure was more likely to be around £35,941. (https://bit.ly/3cLEQRT)
Why are architectural salaries so detached from inflation or with the current skills shortages, will 2022 be the year that substantial gains start to occur?