‘Up and Down’, ‘Hot and Cold’, Two paced’, ‘Hard to read’… these have been some of the most common statements that have been bandied around from within our market and by ourselves, here at BT&P Sydney, over the last few months. The general feeling overall is that some of our clients have been really busy whilst others are finding it tougher at the moment.

I have been working in the Sydney Architectural and Interior Design recruitment markets for the last 19 years and I would honestly say this is pretty much one of the hardest to read markets that I can remember. Bold statement I know, but accurate!

Each individual project sector seems to have its ‘winners and losers’ right now, and this appears to be more connected to our clients’ individual client-base rather than the overall market conditions.
One thing that has been evident, especially in Architecture, is the increase in contract and temporary positions. This tends to be an indicator that Architectural practices are not overly confident on how busy they will be for the longer term and that project forecasting is a little uncertain into 2025. It is with this in mind that firms with immediate project pressure points are resourcing their needs with short term contractors. Not uncommon and something we also see after there have been redundancies across the industry, like we witnessed in late 2023/early 2024.

The other key factor of any growing contract market is the availability of good quality, suitably skilled candidates and, with the up and down nature of the market, there are greater pools of candidates available and willing to take on shorter-term assignments. Also, we have definitely seen an uptick in Candidates heading our way with Working Holiday Visa in hand who are limited to contract work, which also impacts the supply pool in a positive availability way.
In any case, with this in mind, let’s drill down further into what is actually happening in Architecture and Design.

Architecture

Over the last few months, we have continued to see a demand for strong project running, skilled Architects with Class 2 building experience. We anticipate that this should remain the case for the foreseeable future and possibly even increase in 2025, especially if interest rates start to come down (fingers crossed on that one!).

There is clearly still demand in the residential unit market and we anticipate the Multi-unit Residential, Mixed-use Residential and Social Housing markets to remain strong through 2025 with the potential to become incredibly busy. The Master Builders Association (ACA) forecast for construction indicates that there will be a return to growth in overall construction activity in 2025, driven by the residential market.

Some of the key factors behind this will be likely be contingent on easing interest rates and continued migration, especially into NSW. So let’s see what happens there, certainly increased growth and activity would be very welcome in what has been a challenging market.

Moving away from the residential project typologies, we have also seen continued pockets of work within the commercial, hospitality and industrial sectors over the last quarter and again this has resulted in opportunities for Project Architects and Project Leads, capable of taking a project from concept design to completion. Education has shown some more recent signs of life, but overall, it is fair to say that those larger scale institutional, health or more government backed projects have been relatively scarce this past 6 months. Smaller scale works seem to have more consistent levels of activity and this is where we circle back to our initial observations; whether a firm is busy or not is often coming down to the client base of each company, rather than reading the market conditions and determining solid trends.

Interior Design

The interior Design market has remained solid over the last quarter, most sectors seem to be traveling OK with hospitality in particular providing consistent demand for candidates. The high-end Residential market remains solid, and whilst retail has had its moments, we are seeing an uptick here, possibly coinciding with the run up to Christmas and smaller projects needing to be fast tracked accordingly.

One area that continues to fluctuate more than others is the commercial office fit-out market. Within this sector we have some clients that are very busy and some that are downsizing a little. It may be one to watch – we have definitely noticed a greater push from Clients to have workers back in the office, the days of name your flexibility requirements are definitely a thing of the past. This does not mean flexibility is not available, more that it is no longer a ‘given’ and more and more is featuring as a negotiable item throughout the recruitment process.

In regards to the levels and types of roles we see in Interiors, conversely to the Architectural market, where more experienced candidates seem more in demand, the majority of the roles we have seen over the few months have been in the 2-to-6-year range, capabilities being more within the mid-level skill set. Generally speaking, senior level roles are rarer in this space anyway, primarily due to the fact that most Design studios are smaller and therefore the need for numerous Senior level personnel just isn’t as great.
Overall Interior Design has held its own this year, with the occasional peaks and troughs, the project typologies have been mixed and roles both permanent and contract – and whilst it has n’t been booming, it has been relatively consistent. Which we’ll take any day!

So what’s in store…?

I started this report saying this market has been one of the hardest to read that I can remember, and for me, this is true. That said, there is and will be work, but betting on how active things will be in 2025 and what sectors will be the busiest and what specifics to watch out for is not something I’d do just yet.

So this means for us, we will continue to work hard and find great people for the great roles we have and as always, be ready to roll with whatever comes our way. Bring it on we say!! Lastly as we power through these last few weeks of December, may we take this opportunity to wish everyone a safe and happy festive season. See you in 2025!

Jamie Keay

Partner – Sydney