Major architect layoffs expected by end of year

As many as one-third of the 3,000 architects employed in Ireland could be out of work by the end of the year because of the downturn in the construction sector in Ireland and Britain, according to senior industry sources.

Seán O’Laoire, founding director of Murray O’Laoire Architects and president of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI), said anecdotal evidence suggested that very significant redundancies were occurring in the sector.

H e said that about 70 per cent of architecture firms in the country would normally employ about ten people each, but many of these had now reduced their staff to about three people.

O’Laoire said he was also aware of larger firms that had laid off between 20 and 30 people.

The trend had been progressive for the last year, he said, but had been exacerbated in the past three to six months. Architecture firm O’Mahony Pike is among those reducing staff numbers, with plans to lay off about one-third of its staff.

The Sunday Business Post understands that the firm is to reduce its staff numbers to about 70, down from a peak of 130 earlier this year. The company had already laid off about 25 people in the first half of this year.

James Pike, co-founder of O’Mahony Pike, confirmed that the company was in the process of agreeing redundancies with architects at the firm, but declined to say how many staff would lose their jobs.

Pike said that fall-off in the construction sector was ‘‘having an effect similar to, but thankfully not as bad’’ as the property slump in Britain in 1989 and 1990,when half of the architecture firms in Britain went bust.

Pike said that, while other firms had not revealed job loss figures, there was ‘‘strong anecdotal evidence’’ that firms which were reliant on the Irish housing market were making between one-third and half their staff redundant. O’Mahony Pike has moved to insulate itself from the downturn in Ireland by actively seeking work overseas.

The company has recently sent staff to canvass for potentially lucrative contracts in the Middle East, according to Pike, and is also looking for contracts in Russia, where there is a housing boom.

However, O’Laoire said that there were few locations booming worldwide, because the global credit crunch was having a detrimental effect on lending in the construction sector.

Sunday Business Post

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