Practices have taken an unprecedented battering following the downturn in property and development but some see signs of fresh life in the months ahead.
Incontrovertible evidence of the hammering inflicted on the planning consultancy sector this year emerges from our latest annual review of the market. Many teams have shed staff as practice managers try to balance the books in the face of declining workloads and static fee rates.
After more than a decade of untrammelled growth in staff numbers, the past 15 months have seen significant losses of chartered town planners from the ranks of consultancy. Excluding sole practitioners, 29 firms have expanded their complement of planners since September 2008, 41 have seen no change and 39 have cut their payrolls. The top ten largest employers have shed around 100 full RTPI members between them.
