Australia's Studio Accelerator returns for a second year as design founders face mounting pressure to rethink how they run their businesses.
Across Australia, the way design practices are run is changing.
Recent national research paints a clearer picture of just how much pressure the profession is carrying. Fifty-four percent of practices have reported a revenue decline in the past six months. Seventy-two percent rate cost escalation as a high or critical concern. More than eighty percent have had projects cancelled in the past twelve months. Nearly half are dealing with delayed or withheld payments. Pipeline visibility is collapsing: more than a quarter of practices now have less than two months of work in front of them.
Underneath all of it sits a structural reality. Most architects and interior designers in Australia work in small to medium practices, often as solo founders or with teams under ten. For these founders, running the business is a side discipline. The training is in design. The business skills, the pricing models, contract negotiation, team leadership, are picked up on the fly.
That's the problem the Studio Accelerator was built to solve.
In late 2025, CO-architecture launched the first cohort of the Studio Accelerator, a national business program created specifically for early-stage and growing architecture and design practices. Twenty-six studios joined, ranging from emerging firms under five years old to established practices a decade in. Over four weeks they participated in eight workshops totalling more than sixteen hours, working through pricing structures, leadership, operations, client experience, and the business case for design.
The program was built around a deliberate model: founder-led, mentor-driven, and grounded in the realities of small-practice life. Mentors and advisors were drawn from across the Australian industry, including directors from Hassell, Bijl Architecture, Bates Smart, Buchan, Cox, and Ewert Leaf. Strategic advisors in finance, brand, operations, and law rounded out the network.
A year on, the impact on the first cohort is starting to show.
Bonnie Laing of Bel.Bon., a Perth-based studio in the 2025 cohort, says the program reshaped how the practice took on work. "The Accelerator really helped us refine the type of work we want to specialise in. Going into the program we were taking any work we could, which was good for cash flow but long term half the work wasn't our goal and didn't show our niche. Now, having changed our mindset, clients are coming to us for our speciality."
More clarity. Better clients. Stronger business
Nicola Millward of NX Studio, a Sydney practice in the same cohort, describes a similar shift. "The Accelerator really helped bring clarity to my goals and gave me a stronger sense of direction for NX Studio. The opportunity to learn from such knowledgeable and experienced people in the industry was fantastic, and the insights I gained have been incredibly valuable moving forward."
Both founders say they continue to refer back to the program's frameworks nearly a year later.
The 2026 cohort is now open.
What's changed for the second year is the pressure context the program is responding to. AI tools that didn't exist eighteen months ago are now part of how studios produce, present, and price work. Industry data suggests around seventy percent of practices are now using AI in some form, yet nearly two-thirds have no formal AI policy in place. Most founders are still figuring out where these tools fit without diluting what makes their practice distinctive.
At the same time, the burden of regulation continues to grow. NCC updates, electrification mandates, NatHERS uplifts, and the broader push toward net-zero homes are landing on architects and designers without proportional fees attached.
The toll is felt most acutely at the top. Director-level wellbeing in Australian architectural practice now sits at almost three times the rate of concern reported by employees, with directors carrying the weight of financial risk, business development, professional liability, and project delivery, often without the structures or peer support to share the load.
The 2026 program reflects these realities. New sessions have been added on AI workflows, fee structures in a compressed market, protecting IP and scope through construction, and positioning for the next phase of growth.
What hasn't changed is the program's core proposition. "There's so much value in learning from those who've done it before, especially the mistakes," said Toby Ewert, former co-founder of Ewert Leaf, when the program launched in 2025. "Programs like this give early-stage studios the guidance and peer support needed to build something resilient, with clarity and confidence."
The 2026 cohort is open to a broad group: emerging architects and designers stepping into structured practice, studio founders and small practice leaders sharpening their positioning, and senior managers preparing for ownership or leadership transitions.
The program is delivered online, with weekly CPD live sessions recorded for playback.
Applications close July 30th. The program begins August 3rd.
For more information or to apply, visit co-architecture.com/studio-accelerator.
Source: Industry statistics referenced in this article are drawn from the ACA Pulse Check 2026,
