With the London Festival of Architecture opening in June – during which Weston Williamson and Partners have events planned – the organisers have commissioned a survey of the contribution that architecture makes to the UK economy. When we met last year, Tamsie Thompson the Director of LFA was keen to promote the event on a par with London Fashion week, and we suggested she needed firm evidence of the financial musclier order to convince Government why they should support her. She now has that research, and it makes interesting reading particularly for those responsible for our Brexit negotiations.

London’s architecture sector is a £1.7-billion industry, with growth outstripping both the creative industries and the London economy as a whole. The capital is undeniably the global architectural hub, with a large and diverse international workforce, making a major contribution to the UK’s balance of payments as one of the country’s most valuable creative exports.
London’s architecture sector is a £1.7 billion industry, with growth outstripping both the creative industries and the London economy as a whole.

1. London’s architecture sector produced £1.7 billion in gross value added (GVA) – a measure of the value of goods and services produced
2. The value of architecture in London is undervalued by creative policy makers – the sector is 38% bigger than the product, graphic and fashion design sector
3. Architecture in London is growing by 7.6% every year – more than the creative industries (3.9%) and the London economy as a whole (3%)
4. London contributed around 42% to the total GVA of UK’s architecture sector in 2015
5. London architecture employs 22,800 people and 40% of London’s architects are female
6. The UK is a net exporter of architectural services, exporting £437 million more than it imported in 2015
7. With only £31 million of architectural imports into the UK, the importance of good post-Brexit trade deals to protect exports is paramount
8. Around one-third of jobs in London’s architecture sector held by non-UK nationals
9. London remains one of the most attractive places to study architecture in the world: 28.3% of undergraduate (and 36.7% of postgraduate) architecture students are non-UK nationals

The survey shows that we need to negotiate to keep our staff from Europe and to attract more and we need to be able to trade with the rest of the world in an open and fair system. I think the Government acknowledges most of these arguments and will do everything they can to protect our access to the brightest and best in Europe and beyond. For what it is worth, I thought Theresa May’s January 17th speech about the government's intentions was one of the best political speeches of the 21st century – not that there has been much competition. There have been many quick to dismiss her aims as unachievable, but none have been able to describe why. It’s worth taking another look at that speech.