Singapore's architecture blueprint spurs push to tackle brain drain in other sectors

Paying the country's architects just right will hopefully stop the brain drain.

A framework issued by Singapore’s architecture body in May to address low pay, brain drain and falling fees has spawned a similar push in other industries, including engineering and consultancy, as they try to retain young talent spooked by scope creep.

“The public sector and government agencies are also considering the blueprint as a way to articulate fair fees,” architect Melvin HJ Tan, president of the Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA), told Singapore Business Review.

“Scope creep can happen in small amounts and large scales,” he said, noting that when an architectural firm lands a client, the architect in charge must attend every single meeting with every other subconsultant. “Automatically, the time that we put out or get involved with increases manyfold.”

Tan said architects now get a quarter of what they used to earn two or three decades ago even if architectural work has become more complex and work-heavy. SIA issued the framework to guide architects in pricing their services more accurately and ensure they are paid correctly.