Real Estate to employ architects, engineers

New Delhi, Apr 29: The fiscal 2007-2008 is expected to add over 1,000 architects and 5,000 civil engineers across major metros and mini metros in the country, according to study by EMA Partners, a global executive search firm.

Riding on the IT, ITES, Retail and financial services boom coupled with growing opportunities in infrastructure and hospitality sector, the Indian realty market is expected to witness a massive demand of architects and civil engineers, the study said.

''Overall economic growth with surge in demand will witness at least 15-20 per cent rise in the pay packages for architect, design and civil engineers in India,'' EMA Partners India Managing Partner K Sudarshan said in a statement.

The recent trends have indicated that this demand for realty sector professionals will reach a new high in the years to come, he said.

The market for architects and civil engineers is expected to grow by more than 30 per cent by the end of 2007 as compared to an estimated 20 per cent in 2006.

Commenting on EMA Partner's study, Sanjay Srinivasan, Director-Edifice Architects, India's leading premier architecture and interior design firm said, ''Edifice plans to add 300 professionals to cope with the growing demand from our clients to create world-class premier commercial spaces. We have already seen global architecture firms now making way to India. In the next two years, we expect significant consolidation in the sector.'' Developers like Parsvanath, Sobha, Omaxe/DLF, etc approaching the capital markets for funding their projects and Indian capital market developers eyeing Alternate Investment Market-a submarket of London Stock Exchange has propelled the entire sector.

More than 5.75 million sqft of total office space was added in last quarter of 2006 across Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore.

The rising costs and local capacity constraints are driving companies to Tier 2 cities such as Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune and Tier 3 cities such as Jaipur, Chandigarh, Mysore and Ahmedabad.

India's high growth rate has led to problems with inadequate public infrastructure, salary inflation and high attrition rates in major tier 1 cities. This increases the attractiveness of Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities where quality of life, lower wages and other costs are increasingly attractive.

UNI