Survey shows architects' contractor supply trend

A survey of architects has shown a significant increase in demand for dealing with manufacturers providing complete building supply solutions over those providing individual products.

The Arch-Vision survey of 1,600 professionals found a strong trend in Spain, Poland and the UK for those in the industry who valued working with companies offering all-encompassing building services.

In Spain, the figure rose to 65% in 2014 from 49% last year in the number of architects wanting to work with those who provided total building supply services.

Within the UK, the relative increase was even more - rising from 39% last year to 60% in 2014. The highest level of preference was in Poland, where 80% of those questioned for the survey wanted to work with complete package suppliers – up from 66% last year.

From research undertaken on an European level at the beginning of 2014, it appeared that 29% of the manufacturers already offered total solutions to their customers, and other 23% were considering it.