There are dates that stick in the collective memory: 1776, 1861, 1929 and now 2020, which could well be a year that future generations in the construction industry look back on as a major turning point. The social, economic and cultural ramifications of COVID-19 won’t be fully understood for years to come, but the challenge of the pandemic has caused rapid change across the design sector.
Even so, the revenue shortfall many observers had predicted for design firms has not happened to the extent feared, according to results of the 2021 Top 500 Design Firms ranking. The aggregate revenue for listed firms actually rose to a record $104.77 billion in 2020—an increase of 1.48%.