Hot on the heels of the 2014 market survey comes that for 2015. This important piece of work undertaken by Landward Research, jointly for FAME and CIfA, describes the commercial archaeology sector as of the end of March this year. You will want to look at the detail to compare your organisation’s position with others in the industry, but the headlines are:

-Employment in the ‘applied archaeology sector’ up by over 20%
-Turnover up 15%, with margins up slightly to 2.5%
-Business confidence at an all time high
-Commercial residential development still dominates
-Skills gaps still a concern, but the response has been increased training
-Heightened concern over threats to local government archaeology

The survey comes at a time when many organisation are expanding and with the prospect of enhanced government spending on infrastructure. The survey makes a vital contribution to understanding the state of the sector and will help to focus efforts on improvement at an organisational and industry level. Members can download a copy of the report by following this link.