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Architectural and engineering activities; technical testing and analysis

Current registrations 24,320division 71: 39,534
Starters, 12 months 1,5096.2 per 100 · Belgium 8.9
Bankruptcies, 12 months 492.0 per 1,000 registrations · Belgium 6.2
Employment (FTE) 2,788519 employers · latest accounts
Median age 9.6 yearsBelgium 8.1 years
E-invoicing via Peppol 91.4%22,218 of 24,320 companies in the Peppol Directory · Belgium 85.0%

Activities

NACE 7111 · 4 activities
Activity Registrations Starters, 12 months Bankruptcies, 12 months FTE
Activities of building architects71111 18,227 1,013 24 2,069
Activities of interior architects71112 3,881 279 19 427
Urban planning and landscape architecture71113 2,242 197 6 292
Architectural and engineering activities; technical testing and analysis71119 38 20 0 -

Filed accounts

NACE 7111 · financial year 2025 · 8,260 filed annual accounts
Median solvency
49.9%
division 50.9% · Belgium 46.1%
Median net result
€14,844
division €18,838 · Belgium €16,475
Median equity
€71,091
division €83,954 · Belgium €98,230
Loss-making
21.1%
division 21.3% · Belgium 26.7%
Negative equity
8.8%
division 8.5% · Belgium 12.4%
Median return on equity
19.4%
division 20.7% · Belgium 15.9%
Median liquidity
1.90
division 1.94 · Belgium 1.66
Filed late
34.7%
financial year 2024, 8,012 filings · division 33.6% · Belgium 38.5%
Missing or 90 days late
3.4%
of 8,623 companies with annual accounts · division 3.5% · Belgium 5.5%
Per financial year202020212022202320242025
Median solvency 45.8%48.4%48.6%49.7%50.6%49.9%
Median net result €11,800€14,535€14,191€13,686€14,143€14,844

Hold your customer's or competitor's figures against them in the Sector benchmark

Bankruptcies

Bankruptcies, 5 years, still registered
125
0.51% of the registrations · Belgium 1.68%
Running bankruptcies
149
6.1 per 1,000 registrations

Recent bankruptcies

Date Company
12-11-2026 DESIGN & CONCEPT
BE 0775.885.578
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
08-10-2026 CR33MERS
BE 0643.546.795
30-09-2026 Van Valckenborgh, Jürgen
BE 0864.153.895 · sole trader

Every bankruptcy in division 71, last 90 days

Spread across the country

by region and province · 10,828 of 24,320 enterprises with a registered office on file · a sole trader has no published seat
  • Flanders 6,967 · 64.3%
  • Wallonia 2,273 · 21.0%
  • Brussels 1,545 · 14.3%
  • Abroad 43 · 0.4%
fewer moremax 2,193

Largest employers

NACE 7111 as first main activity · staff from the latest accounts
  1. 1 A.C.N.Izegem 77.7 FTEfinancial year 2025
  2. 2 BURO II & ARCHI + IBrussels 75.9 FTEfinancial year 2025
  3. 3 VastgoedexpertsLaakdal 73.6 FTEfinancial year 2025
  4. 4 TECCONBeveren-Kruibeke-Zwijndrecht 51.1 FTEfinancial year 2025
  5. 5 DESSIN PERFORMANCE ENERGIEPaliseul 41.1 FTEfinancial year 2025

Joint committees

from the latest accounts of 1,163 companies
  • 336 Liberal professions 631
  • 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 397
  • 100 Auxiliary committee for blue-collar workers 73
  • 124 Construction 59
  • 145 Horticulture 59
  • 201 Independent retail 25
  • 126 Furnishing and woodworking 24
  • 302 Hotels and catering 9
Show the 12 others
  • 209 White-collar workers in metal manufacturing 7
  • 149.01 Electricians: installation and distribution 6
  • 111 Metal, mechanical and electrical engineering 4
  • 144 Agriculture 3
  • 323 Building management, estate agents and domestic staff 3
  • 226 White-collar workers in international trade, transport and logistics 2
  • 101 Mining 1
  • 106.02 Concrete industry 1
  • 109 Clothing and garment industry 1
  • 120 Textile industry 1
  • 132 Technical farming and horticulture work 1
  • 142.04 Recovery of raw materials 1

Source: the annual accounts at the National Bank. One filing can name more than one committee.

Division 71: Architecture and engineering

Bankruptcies per year in division 71

Per year201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Bankruptcies12487729411276799710811499102
Jobs lost219137116183170149128211180181209184

2026 through September. Every bankruptcy, also of companies that have since left the register. Source: Statbel (Directorate-General Statistics), NACE classification of 2008.

Staff cost per FTE in NACE division 71

1,480 employers
Median
€70,400
Belgium €61,400
Middle half
€56,300 to €86,400
half of the employers lie between
Place among sectors
24 of 78
sectors with a median staff cost per FTE, highest first
By size class
SizeMedianMiddle halfEmployers
fewer than 10 FTE €64,600 €50,700 to €79,300 948
10 to 49 FTE €77,700 €65,400 to €90,300 384
50 to 249 FTE €80,300 €72,600 to €102,800 124
250 FTE or more €90,000 €84,100 to €107,600 24

Running bankruptcies in the sector

NACE division 71
Number
205
Half have run longer than
20 months
Belgium: 20 months
Longer than three years
38%
Belgium: 31%

Measured nationally: Of 108,768 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 13 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.

Outcome by court and division

95 of the 20,644 companies in NACE division 71 have a parent company abroad. Main parent countries: France (18), Netherlands (17) and Luxembourg (13). Together they employ 8,572 of the division's 39,247 FTE: 22%, against 14% for Belgium as a whole.

Subsidies in this sector

per register · legal entities with an enterprise number
  • Flemish subsidies €153.6m awarded 3,590 recipients · 2022 to 2025 · largest: Onderzoeksproject
  • Wallonia-Brussels Federation €263,742 paid 35 recipients · 2023 to 2025 · largest: Unnamed in the register
  • Federal transfers 175.0m amount as published 112 recipients · 2023 to 2025 · largest: Toelage aan de IVZW MYRRHA. Constructie fase 1 - MINERVA
  • EU budget €305.8m attributed share 109 recipients · 2021 to 2025 · largest: Horizon Europe
  • EU research €325.1m EU contribution 154 recipients · 2007 to 2027 · largest: Horizon 2020

Explore every recipient in this sector

Insights on Architectural and engineering activities; technical testing and analysis

Balance sheet and result. 8.8% of the annual accounts show negative equity, against 12.4% in Belgium. Return on equity of 19.4% is above Belgium's 15.9%. 21.1% of the annual accounts close with a loss, against 26.7% in Belgium.

Bankruptcies. In 12 months, 2.0 of 1,000 companies went bankrupt, against 6.2 in Belgium. That is fewer than in 74% of the 88 NACE divisions. The median bankruptcy probability of 0.1% is below Belgium's 0.2%.

Inflow and structure. 55.5% of the companies are sole traders, against 41.6% in Belgium. In 12 months, 6.2 of 100 companies started, against 8.9 in Belgium. That is fewer than in 60% of the 87 NACE divisions. Half of the companies are younger than 9.6 years, against 8.1 years in Belgium.

Staff and filing. The 5 largest employers hold 319 of the 2,788 FTE: 11.5%.

Direction. Median solvency rose from 45.8% in financial year 2020 to 49.9% in financial year 2025. The median net result rose from €11,800 in financial year 2020 to €14,844 in financial year 2025.

The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other divisions is as of 13-11-2026 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 7111 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 1,276,396 companies with a main activity, because only those belong to a division. The other 700,156 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. The direction per financial year follows the companies still registered today. Missing or 90 days late counts the companies with accounts missing today, or whose latest were filed more than 90 days after the deadline. The dossier follows the same rule.