Architectural and engineering activities; technical testing and analysis
Activities
NACE division 71 · 8 activities| Activity | Registrations | Starters, 12 months | Bankruptcies, 12 months | FTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Activities of building architects71111 | 18,215 | 999 | 24 | 2,072 |
| Engineering and related technical consultancy, excluding land surveyors71121 | 11,523 | 1,072 | 35 | 24,208 |
| Activities of interior architects71112 | 3,878 | 276 | 19 | 426 |
| Urban planning and landscape architecture71113 | 2,246 | 197 | 6 | 292 |
| Other technical testing and analysis71209 | 2,142 | 180 | 7 | 8,811 |
| Land surveying71122 | 1,741 | 58 | 3 | 706 |
| Architectural and engineering activities; technical testing and analysis71201 | 70 | 6 | 1 | 2,818 |
| Architectural and engineering activities; technical testing and analysis71119 | 38 | 20 | 0 | - |
Filed accounts
NACE division 71 · financial year 2025 · 16,454 filed annual accounts| Per financial year | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median solvency | - | - | 47.7% | 49.8% | 50.1% | 51.2% | 52.2% | 51.9% |
| Median net result | - | - | €13,859 | €16,602 | €16,393 | €17,211 | €17,380 | €18,317 |
| Filed late | 38.6% | 44.3% | 41.5% | 40.0% | 37.9% | 34.8% | 33.6% | - |
Hold your customer's or competitor's figures against them in the Sector benchmark
Staff cost per FTE in NACE division 71
1,479 employers| Size | Median | Middle half | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| fewer than 10 FTE | €64,600 | €50,700 to €79,300 | 946 |
| 10 to 49 FTE | €77,700 | €65,400 to €90,600 | 386 |
| 50 to 249 FTE | €80,200 | €72,400 to €100,700 | 123 |
| 250 FTE or more | €90,000 | €84,100 to €107,600 | 24 |
Employers with the highest staff cost per FTE in this division All sectors by staff cost In the Analysis workbench
Bankruptcies
Bankruptcies per year in division 71
| Per year | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bankruptcies | 124 | 87 | 72 | 94 | 112 | 76 | 79 | 97 | 108 | 114 | 99 | 102 |
| Jobs lost | 219 | 137 | 116 | 183 | 170 | 149 | 128 | 211 | 180 | 181 | 209 | 184 |
2026 through September. Every bankruptcy, also of companies that have since left the register. Source: Statbel (Directorate-General Statistics), NACE classification of 2008.
Recent bankruptcies
| Date | Company |
|---|---|
| 28-10-2026 | SiMS Mobility
BE 0756.568.821 |
| 26-10-2026 | Architecten Emmanuel Lenders en Partners
BE 0447.103.385 |
| 26-10-2026 | INSIGHT-IN
BE 0543.354.705 |
| 23-10-2026 | ORBIS ARCHITECTURE
BE 0763.333.778 |
| 15-10-2026 | RVH INTERIOR
BE 0789.496.757 |
| 14-10-2026 | AR Green Design
BE 0783.549.469 |
| 14-10-2026 | Greenpowr
BE 0785.541.830 |
| 08-10-2026 | CR33MERS
BE 0643.546.795 |
Running bankruptcies in the sector
NACE division 71Measured nationally: Of 108,606 bankruptcies of legal entities across Belgium, 49% were closed within five years for insufficient assets and 29% after liquidation, 3% were withdrawn. After five years, 20% were still open. Half had ended after 26 months (a quarter after 15, three quarters after 51 months).
This counts companies with this main activity in the register on 5 November 2026. The outcome itself is not measured by sector. The activity of a company that leaves the register after its bankruptcy is too often not kept to compare closed cases fairly.
Spread across the country
by region and province · 22,006 of 39,520 enterprises with a registered office on file · a sole trader has no published seat- Flanders
- Wallonia
- Brussels
- Abroad
This sector's balance sheets on the map, by municipality and down to the address
Largest employers
NACE division 71 · staff from the latest accounts- 1 Daikin Europe N.V.Ostend 1,724 FTEfinancial year 2026
- 2 SGS BELGIUMAntwerp 1,395 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 3 TRACTEBEL ENGINEERINGBrussels 1,326 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 4 VINCOTTEVilvoorde 973 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 5 ARCADIS BELGIUMBrussels 775 FTEfinancial year 2025
Joint committees
from the latest accounts of 3,102 companies- 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 1,731
- 336 Liberal professions 743
- 100 Auxiliary committee for blue-collar workers 303
- 209 White-collar workers in metal manufacturing 210
- 111 Metal, mechanical and electrical engineering 113
- 124 Construction 109
- 145 Horticulture 64
- 207 White-collar workers in the chemical industry 63
Show the 12 others
- 149.01 Electricians: installation and distribution 56
- 201 Independent retail 35
- 219 Technical inspection and conformity assessment 33
- 116 Chemical industry 28
- 126 Furnishing and woodworking 27
- 226 White-collar workers in international trade, transport and logistics 27
- 149.04 Metal trade 20
- 337 Auxiliary committee for the non-profit sector 20
- 335 Services and support for business and the self-employed 15
- 302 Hotels and catering 13
- 323 Building management, estate agents and domestic staff 11
- 149 Sectors related to metal, mechanical and electrical engineering 8
Source: the annual accounts at the National Bank. One filing can name more than one committee.
95 of the 20,642 companies in NACE division 71 have a parent company abroad. Main parent countries: France (18), Netherlands (17) and Luxembourg (13). Together they employ 8,556 of the division's 39,333 FTE: 22%, against 14% for Belgium as a whole.
Subsidies in this sector
per register · legal entities with an enterprise number- Flemish subsidies €162.4m awarded
- Federal transfers 175.0m amount as published
- Wallonia-Brussels Federation €263,742 paid
- EU budget €306.0m attributed share
- EU research €322.9m EU contribution
Insights on Architecture and engineering
Balance sheet and result. 8.5% of the annual accounts show negative equity, against 12.4% in Belgium. Return on equity of 20.7% is above Belgium's 15.9%. 21.3% of the annual accounts close with a loss, against 26.7% in Belgium.
Bankruptcies. In 12 months, 2.4 of 1,000 companies went bankrupt, against 6.2 in Belgium. That is fewer than in 71% of the 87 other NACE divisions. The median bankruptcy probability of 0.1% is below Belgium's 0.2%. By size, the median bankruptcy probability is 0.1% at under 10 FTE, 0.1% at 10 to 49 FTE, 0.1% at 50 to 249 FTE and 0.1% at 250 FTE or more.
Inflow and structure. In 12 months, 7.1 of 100 companies started, against 8.8 in Belgium. That is fewer than in 53% of the 86 other NACE divisions. Half of the companies are younger than 9.0 years, against 8.1 years in Belgium.
Staff and filing. The median staff cost per FTE of €70,389 is above Belgium's €61,416. 33.6% of the financial year 2024 accounts were filed late, against 38.4% in Belgium. The 5 largest employers hold 6,193 of the 39,333 FTE: 15.7%.
Direction. Median solvency rose from 47.7% in financial year 2020 to 51.9% in financial year 2025. The median net result rose from €13,859 in financial year 2020 to €18,317 in financial year 2025. In 2025, Statbel counted 99 bankruptcies and 209 jobs lost, against 76 bankruptcies in 2020.
The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other divisions is as of 05-11-2026 05:30.
Method and sources
Every company registered today counts under its main activities in the KBO. Establishment units do not count. Staff counts once, under the employer's first main activity, from its latest accounts and only where it fits the staff costs. The count follows the NACE 2025 classification, the version in which code 71 exists.
The bankruptcies over five years count only companies still registered today, because the activity of a company that left the register is not kept. So they are fewer than the bankruptcies of those years, and the figure is not a probability for the future. Over twelve months the count is nearly complete, because a bankrupt company stays registered while its bankruptcy runs. A company with more than one main activity counts in each of those sectors.
The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other NACE divisions rests on an overview of every division, counted again each night. Each division is counted in the version of the NACE classification in which it exists. A standing such as "more than in 80%" compares with the other divisions that have the figure. A division's bankruptcy probability is the median over its companies with a score. Belgium here counts the 1,275,887 companies with a main activity, because only those belong to a division. The other 699,448 registrations publish no activity.
Each median is the value of the middle company, computed over the annual accounts of financial year 2025, and is shown only from 30 accounts. A share (loss-making, negative equity) counts that year's accounts with that trait. Accounts are late when they are filed after the statutory deadline.