It’s that time of year, when Business Link Magazine invites the region’s business leaders to offer up their predictions for the year ahead.
It has become something of a tradition, given that we’ve been doing this now for over 30 years.
Here we speak to Daniel Collins, Director at PolkeyCollins, the architectural practice.
2021 has been a testing year for the property and construction sector but specifically for the professional side of our industry, meaning it’s been difficult to advise clients with certainty, which is being felt across the board.
However, the changeable times have given us the chance to take perspective on many things and if anything, the long-term strategy of our practice has somewhat been validated with our approach to working with a select group of key clients across multi sectors and picking up feature projects too.
For us and many in the industry, the first quarter of 2021 was challenging as projects came to an end and new ones got cancelled because of the knock-on effects of the pandemic. But despite that shaky start, there is lots of positivity and we have never been more optimistic.
Hence, we further expanded our team this year, as planned, worked with existing and new clients and have a strong, exciting pipeline in place for 2022.
The new year is looking buoyant in terms of activity and opportunity, but I do believe the construction industry will continue its struggle with inflating materials costs, which is squeezing viability figures.
The government statement regarding ‘levelling up’ should help the economy outside of the M25 but how much of this comes to fruition we will need to wait and see.
For Polkey Collins, we have impressive projects on the horizon and keep looking forward and innovating in our outlook and approach and take each month as it comes. We are on target in terms of our strategy and have a skilled team which puts us in a strong position moving into the new year.
