The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has published its annual Business Benchmarking 2025 report.
Using data submitted by UK-based RIBA Chartered Practices, the report tracks business trends in the twelve months to 1 May 2025, including revenue, expenditure, profitability, salaries, work types, and international activity. The full report is available exclusively to RIBA Chartered Practices.
This year’s findings show a profession delivering its strongest financial performance since before the pandemic, marked by strong revenue growth, rising profitability, and renewed confidence across much of the sector. While growth has been broad-based, much of the international expansion is driven by larger practices – with 83% of overseas revenue generated by those with 100 or more staff – while the smallest practices continue to face tougher trading conditions.
Key findings from the RIBA Business Benchmarking 2025 report include:
- Total revenue from RIBA Chartered Practices reached £5 billion, up 24% year-on-year. Adjusting for inflation, this is the strongest annual percentage rise since 2017 and marks real-value revenue surpassing the previous peak, recorded in 2019.
- International revenue surged by 67%, to over £1.5 billion, driven by projects in the European Union, with further growth across Asia and the Middle East.
- After an extended period of flat profits, overall practice profitability has improved, led by large practices. However, growth has not been evenly distributed. While large practices have seen substantial gains, smaller firms continue to face more difficult trading conditions.
- Smaller practices continue to face a challenging market, with those employing 1-4 staff seeing flat revenue and a slight fall in profits, on average.
- London practices account for 67% of total revenue, reflecting the capital’s concentration of larger practices and international work.
- Employment increased by 3% to around 42,000 staff, more than half of whom are registered architects.
- Part 1 Architectural Assistants saw the biggest salary rise (+11%), while senior pay growth was modest.
- Pay gaps remain a significant issue across the profession. The gender pay gap stands at 17%, similar to last year, while the ethnicity pay gap is 10%, slightly narrower than last year's figure.
- Practices remain optimistic, anticipating a 7% rise in revenue in the year ahead, suggesting a belief that further productivity and profit gains are to come.
Overall, the report points to a profession regaining its footing after several years of economic headwinds – but one where growth remains uneven and the outlook, while positive, is not without uncertainty.
RIBA President Chris Williamson said: “This year’s critical research paints an encouraging picture of a profession regaining strength, confidence and international reach. The record £5 billion in revenue – and the first meaningful rise in profits for some years– reflect architects’ adaptability and resilience in the face of persistent economic uncertainty and regulatory pressures.
“It’s particularly encouraging to see renewed global momentum, with international work up by an unprecedented 67%, much of it from the EU. UK architecture continues to be a world-leading export and a vital part of our creative economy. But despite signalling the sector is on the right trajectory, there are also significant areas of concern. I know from speaking to many colleagues that some aspects of this survey will come as overly optimistic given current circumstances. Small practices especially, continue to work in a challenging market. Stagnant revenue and falling profit reflect the challenge of winning residential work with adequate fees.
“There’s more work to do to close the gender and ethnicity pay gaps and I will work to ensure all RIBA members adhere to our pay policies. Thank you to every Chartered Practice that contributed their data. Together, we’re building an essential evidence base to help us champion and support the profession through both its continued growth and ongoing challenges”
Read a summary of the RIBA Business Benchmarking 2025 report on riba.org.
