Business survey shows good prospects for consultants in the built environment

Consultancy and engineering businesses in the built and natural environment are performing well and are optimistic about the future, according to a state-of-business report from the Association for Consultancy & Engineering. The report ‘Consultancy and engineering state of business, summer 2005’ shows a healthy picture for the sector. 60% of firms expect their workload to grow over the next three years. The private office market and private housing sector are particularly fruitful areas of UK activity for consulting firms. The report found that only 20% of all work won by consultants is gained through competitive tendering and that more than half of all work is won by repeat business. One in 10 jobs are through framework agreements. ACE chief executive Nelson Ogunshakin comments, ‘The results show how successfully our business is performing and, significantly, express great optimism for growth over the next two years. The overall position is encouraging for our industry and for investors in terms of future workload and return on investment.’ One area of concern is that consultancy and engineering firms are operating at an average utilisation of 77%. This allows for little flexibility and is an indicator of the wider resource shortages occurring in the sector.’