FAME are pleased to present the results of the Heritage Market Survey, 2014,\u00a0commissioned\u00a0with CIfA and Historic England, and undertaken by Landward Research. The survey focused on data collected \u00a0from commercial organisations (including FAME members) for the end of the financial year 2013\/2014 and provides an overview of the structure of the sector, employment numbers and conditions, commercial performance, and levels of confidence going forward. A new updated survey, covering 2014\/2015 will be published soon.<\/p>\n
The picture for the survey period was mixed. The worst of the recession was over, levels of work and employment were\u00a0improving and confidence within the sector was\u00a0at its highest level since the survey began in 2008. However, turnover was\u00a0only slightly improved, and\u00a0while\u00a0there were\u00a0opportunities to grow\u00a0margins, healthy profitability for most employers was still hard to come by. There was, perhaps, an over-reliance on the housing and energy sectors, but this reflects the wider construction market. The majority of respondents predicted continued improvement and growth into 2015, and again,\u00a0unsurprisingly,\u00a0this reflected broader levels of confidence in the UK economy at the time. But the survey identified a number of challenges, notably the difficulty in recruiting sufficient fieldwork staff. Many are responding to this by raising\u00a0wages and putting in place more structured training.<\/p>\n
The value of the survey lies not so much in the historic data, but in how it can help our member organisations plan for a successful\u00a0future and it will be very interesting to compare results with the 2015 survey when these are available. Over the coming weeks we will be drawing out some of the themes\u00a0in the surveys to open up discussions around how FAME can support\u00a0its members in\u00a0this growing market.<\/p>\n