“The crisis is also an opportunity”

Spain's architects are universally respected

Spain’s architects are in high demand. Around the world, highly educated Spaniards who cut their teeth during Spain’s post-millennium property boom are sought after for their innovation, expertise, hard work and vast experience, even at an early age.

How do we know this? Well, France 24 has written a recent report about ‘lean times’ for Spanish architects with barely concealed glee. Yet in their rush to paint Spain’s property market as a busted flush, a quick skim between the lines reveals more positives than negatives.

Citing the statistic that unemployment in the architecture sector is ‘close to 27 per cent’, the article mentions that this figure ‘tops even the nation’s overall jobless rate of 25 per cent’. Spin that however you want, but it’s only two per cent – hardly a cavernous well of despair.

The article then states that the ‘slump is more difficult because of the heights that architects once reached’, which is a weak extrapolation of the data to suit their own editorial agenda, and actively flies in the face of their supporting interviews.

The Spanish architects interviewed by France 24 state that, yes, many struggle to find work in the Spanish construction industry at the moment, but all go on to say how the expertise they accrued during the golden period has set them in good professional stead elsewhere.

From that, one can deduce that Spain’s property industry maintained high standards, employed thousands, and reached a natural saturation peak. There is, in effect, no longer the need for thousands of new high quality properties in most parts of Spain… because they have been built already.

Great news, right? France 24 would have you believe not. But behind the headlines, amid the hype and away from the glare of reporters looking to castigate all things Spanish, lies a hard kernel of truth – the boom is indeed over, but the settled reality is one of top-notch properties, priced realistically, and ready to receive hard-working homeowners looking for their very own slice of the Spanish sun.

And as for the architects? Many are still in work, some have left for foreign climes. “The crisis is also an opportunity,” cites one.

There’s no spinning that, despite France 24’s best attempts.