The overall decline in the public sector took a toll on many of the New York region's design firms last year, some of which were still trying to dig their way out of the recession. The greatest demand for design services in the sector has been and is expected to continue to be fueled by numerous multi-year transportation projects and Superstorm Sandy-related work, executives say. On the private side, signs of life have returned, especially in the residential, commercial and higher education markets, they add.
The design sector had hoped that 2013 would "place it further ahead in the direction of the recovery," says Mark Regulinski, treasurer of the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and managing director of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, New York City. But "hesitancy and uncertainty" has continued, he says.