It’s that time of year, when Business Link Magazine invites the region’s business leaders to offer up their predictions for the year ahead.
It has become something of a tradition, given that we’ve been doing this now for over 30 years.
Here we speak to Graham Edward, Managing Director of Edward Architecture.
Edward Architecture experienced an increase in activity in the first 3 quarters of 2022. This was despite expecting workload to calm down due to an unstable government, interest rates rises and escalating build costs. In the last quarter though, it’s just starting to feel like there is a tightening of belts in the property market as these effects start to hit the market.
I believe 2023 will see a continuation of this tightening effect rather than a huge dip in activity. Demand is still huge in both the residential and logistics markets. However, the viability of new shed schemes has quickly become tight as build costs have risen to well over £100 per sq ft and volatile interest rates are making funders resistant to invest. As the market tightens, build costs and rates should stabilise and possibly even come back to more viable levels.
To help business growth in 2023 and get the country firing on all cylinders again, the government needs to focus on resolving the unreliability of public sector organisations and inflation to stabilise interest rates.
Our order book and enquiry level remains healthy and exciting in residential, strategic land and accessible design. We have also noted that the modular market has become more competitive, particularly in the South East of England where traditional build rates have risen fastest.
We also forecast opportunities leading from local authority asset sales. Our work with the Landsolve framework exposes us to many local authorities. They have key issues to deal with in additional costs and the low carbon commitment. This will prompt sales of assets in building and land to help realise funds and take buildings with expensive energy costs out of their portfolio.
