A recent survey released by the Association of Consulting Engineers (VBI), the Federal Engineers’ and Architects’ Chamber, and the Honorary Order Committee-and reported by “Der Spiegel”-shows that the funds established under the credit-financed Special Fund for Infrastructure and Climate Neutrality are barely reaching engineering and architecture firms. Nearly 4,900 firms nationwide participated in the assessment.
According to the findings, half of the surveyed companies expect their contract volumes to remain stable over the next six months, while 30% anticipate a decline. Jörg Thiele, President of VBI, commented, “To date, the Special Fund has not reached the engineering firms. As a result, German infrastructure will not noticeably improve in the coming three years.”
Twenty percent of the surveyed engineers and architects rated their economic situation as poor or rather poor. Five percent of participants feared having to shut down their businesses in the coming months, and another 14% felt uncertain about their future. Smaller firms with fewer than ten employees assessed their own prospects as particularly critical.
The contract volume for surveyed architectural firms saw a significant drop in 2025 compared to the previous year, whereas the figures for engineering firms remained stable. The associations attribute this difference to architects’ greater reliance on private clients, who are canceling or reducing orders more frequently than public entities.
The €500 billion Special Fund-the result of political agreements between the CDU/CSU, SPD, and Greens to revise the constitution and finance major investments in infrastructure and climate protection-is designed to allow for additional spending. However, economic institutes argue that its resources are not always truly supplementary to existing planned expenditures. In some cases, investments were merely shifted from the core budget into the Special Fund.
Thiele stressed the need for genuine added funding, stating, “We demand that the funds be genuinely additional so that more rail lines and roads can be repaired. To achieve this, appropriate cuts must be made in the core budget instead of utilizing a stopgap solution.”
Furthermore, architects and engineers report that they are not benefiting from the government’s efforts to simplify planning and approval processes. In the survey, bureaucratic hurdles were identified as the largest problem (41%), followed closely by the economic contraction (40%). Other challenges plaguing many planners include disrupted project workflows (36%), inadequate compensation (33%), and rising material costs (29%).
