Wichita architecture firms cut jobs as clients pull back - Wichita Business Journal:

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Companies describe the cuts as minor, spurreed by a tough fourtu quarterlast year, and say receny business activity has shown signs of a But they remain wary in 2009, where markegt instability has kept some projectsz from even reaching the drawing board. “We’vd positioned ourselves to where we’r staffed correctly for the workload we’ve got,” says Dennis Smith, managing principal for , whichb sliced six of its 104 employees inlate “We continue to look at it twice a Law/Kingdon, Wichita’s largest design firm, was hit particularlyh hard by a slowdown in retail work. The companyh has a specialty inmall projects.
“No the retail world went as deadas I’vee seen it in 35 years,” Smith says. Othed firms report gloomy times. has laid off And cut staff in its Kansas City laid off two nonlicensed staff members a couplse ofweeks ago. Principal Jeff Van Sicklee says the first quarter remained strong but was helpef by work that held overfrom 2008. “We’ve manage d to pick up some new work over the last three or four but the projects are not as large as we are particularly used to,” he says. “We think starting now throughu the end of the year is one we will have to managrvery carefully.
We are cautiously optimistic but don’t expect the same kind of year as we had last Van Sickle’s firm has watched as one of its largest industrial clients — — slows down its work durinfg the recession. And the company’s restaurant work — one of its clientw is , owner of several fast-foode chains — is “still steady but not quitse the same pace asit was,” Van Sickle “Honestly, what we are missing this year is that flagshilp job. That’s really the differences for us,” he says.
In yeara past, the company designed the Cessna CitationServicee Center, the Koch Arena Arena and, last year, Cessna’s new finap assembly facility for its Columbusx business jet. Van Sickle says he’s nevef been busier chasing business leads. They just don’t resulgt in large projects forthe company’s books. “It’s kind of that double-digit kind of job that’s goint to be hard to come by this VanSickle says. “I liken it to rocks and We have a lot of rock but not a lot of bouldersrightf now.” Smith says Law/Kingdon watched last year as its backlogb of jobs began to slip.
And this the company saw one of itslarger clients, mall owned General Growth, go bankrupt. Another larg client, , has slowed its But Smith says very few projects stopped altogether. Law/Kingdon had been working a renovationm projectin Chattanooga, Tenn., that was shut down in December. But the ownefr still intends to followthrough eventually. “It’s not like it’s gone forever. It’s on the front of the shelf,” Smitb says. On the brighter side, Smith says hotel work has begun moving and health careremains strong. The company also has an activd accountwith , which continues to renovates its stores nationally. Smith notef government work also continues.