The Royal Institute of British Architects announced the July 2009 results of its monthly Future Trends Survey, marking the start of the third quarter monitoring business and employment trends affecting the architecture profession. The trends emanating from last month’s survey continue to highlight a steady return to some optimism; only 18% of practices were expecting a decrease in workload, compared to 21% in June.

Practices predicting an increase in workload also rose from 31% in June to 31% in July, a further indication that practices continue to grow more confident about their work outlook. The number of staff that are currently underemployed also continued to decrease from 23% in June to 22% in July.