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"But the finger of blame is never pointed at fees. In the absence of a mandatory fee scale and with the general lack of work it’s accepted that architects will work for almost nothing.

The situation is now out of control."

Is there actually a solution to this though? I thought that mandatory fee scales were abolished due to competition law?

This makes for interesting reading:
http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/reports/professional_bodies/oft328.pdf

In particular this quote on page 8 is pretty damning.
"Mandatory fee scales have generally been considered by the OFT and the Monopolies and Mergers Commission to be significant restrictions on competition that are manifestly contrary to the public interest. Advisory fee scales, where charges are objectively determined and reflect changing market conditions and the parties are free to negotiate, may in some circumstances be acceptable, but these conditions are hard to satisfy."

I would argue that in the current market and especially in light of Sanctuary's fee terms that reintroducing minimum fee scales are in the publics best interest for certain types of work as I can't see how you could ever possibly provide a full professional service for 1.9%. However I'm only a new graduate and obviously biased.

Is there anything other than reintroducing mandatory fee scales that could be done?