This website is no longer being updated. For six years until May 2012 we have provided what we hope has been appreciated as an insight into the history, development and application of registration, and the way in which the intentions of parliament in the form of the Architects Act 1997 have been applied and occasionally exceeded.  The editors have described the reasons for some of the perennial tensions that have troubled the profession since the 1930s and have suggested remedies within the statutory framework.  Much of the information on this website will remain relevant until such time as Part IV of the Architects Act is repealed.

A necessary revision of the Act now aligns it more properly with European law, but the opportunity given by this also to review the usefulness of Part IV – the source of much of the tension and criticism of architecture as an over-protected and over-regulated profession – appears to have been overlooked.

Although this opportunity may for the time being be lost, a note, written by a contributor who is not an architect but who has enjoyed a long association with the profession, draws from the earlier reports of Michael Highton and Sir Christopher Ball, touches on the issues of architectural education and title abuse, suggests a repeal of Part IV, and finds that there are other provisions which better provide the protection which the public deserves.  The link to the note is here. On page 3 of the note, there is now a postscript about the Public Bodies (Reform) Bill, and disapplying the Act.

Progress Reports (16 September 2011):

Case Study 3 (Part II of the Act, Registration etc.): after hearing from the European Commission Directorate on 15 February 2011 that "We expect that the public consultation on the amendment of the Architects Act 1997 in order to ensure its compliance with Directive 2005/36/EC will be launched by next week in order to ensure the adoption of the necessary legislation this spring", new Regulations (S.I. 2011 No. 2008 ) bringing the United Kingdom into conformity with the Directive were brought into force on 12 September 2011.

continued... / (Notes and notices)

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Samplers:

The information in this 70 page booklet is considered to be indispensable for responsible policy-makers and for inquirers wishing to participate in the current debate about the future of the ARB.

Osbert Lancaster, 1948 "Pillar to Post: English Architecture without Tears."  "The most polite and unsplenetic of cartoonists, he was never a crusader, remaining always a witty, civilized critic with a profound understanding of the vagaries of human nature." In the cause of architectural education and the public understanding of practice an AARUK contributor commends Osbert Lancaster's works, and RIBA pages on "How We Built Britain".

(16 May 2012)

(16 September 2011)

(16 September 2011)

(4 April 2011)

(16 February 2011)

(13 December 2010)

(25 November 2010)

(23 November 2010)

(25 October 2010)

Reasons for repealing Part IV

(19 October 2010)

(1 October 2010)

(28 September 2010)

(11 August 2010)

(2 August 2010)

(12 July 2010)

(8 July 2010)

(25 June 2010)

(25 June 2010)

(2 June 2010)

(14 May 2010)

(5 May 2010)

(4 May 2010)

(19 April 2010)

(14 April 2010)

(8 April 2010)

(1 February 2010)

(18 December 2009)

(24 November 2009)

(3 August 2009)

(27 July 2009)

(22 July 2009)

(16 July 2009)

(6 July 2009)

(Case Study 3, Part 4)

(23 June 2009)

(26 May 2009)

(16 May 2009)

(6 May 2009)

(28 April 2009)

(27 April 2009)

(22 April 2009)

(10 February 2009) (Case Study 3, Part 2 updated 21 April 2009)

(6 February 2009)

(6 February 2009)

(13 January 2009)

(4 November 2008)

(Expanded to explain consequences,

4 November 2008)

(3 November 2008)

(20 October 2008)

(5 August 2008)

(20 June 2008)

(27 September 2007 - updated 6 June 2008)

(20 September 2007)

(19 September 2007)

(22 August 2007)

(2 June 2007)

(31 May 2007)

Part 2 (9 May 2007)

(2 April 2007)

(28 March 2007)

(6 November 2006)

( 27 June 2006)

( 29 May 2006)

( 30 March 2006)

( 27 March 2006)

( 24 March 2006)

( 17 March 2006)

( 8 March 2006)

( 24 February 2006 )

( 19/21 January 2006 )