Former Fosters associate partner handed six-month suspension for working without PII

Arb has handed a former associate partner at Foster & Partners a six-month suspension from the register for working on two projects without professional indemnity insurance.

Tillman Lenz worked at Foster & Partners for 18 years before leaving in 2018 and setting up his own practice, TLC Design Services, in 2020.

Working under his own name, he submitted planning applications for two small residential projects in 2022 and 2023 and later acknowledged that he had not held PII cover during his work on these projects.

Lenz told Arb that since the work was for his neighbours and friends or referrals from such contacts, he considered the projects to be controlled relationships with minimal risk and small fees.

However, he had also recognised his lack of PII was incorrect and had contacted an insurance broker, who had advised him that his cover could be backdated but that he should contact Arb for advice.

According to the regulator, Lenz said he used his own initiative to ask the insurer about the back cover and says he never sought to intentionally leave it out.

During the hearing for Arb’s Professional Conduct Committee, which took place on 17 November, Lenz admitted that his actions had “lacked integrity” and amounted to unacceptable professional conduct.

> Also read: ARB’s new code of conduct launches from 1 September

He has accepted that PII is a fundamental basic requirement for all architects when practicing and that he “exposed both himself and his clients to potentially significant financial risks”, Arb said.

Standard 8 of the regulator’s Architects Code requires registered architects to have appropriate insurance arrangements. Standard 1.1 expects an architect to act with honesty and integrity and to avoid any actions or situations which are inconsistent with their professional obligations. 

Lenz accepted he breached both codes and demonstrated a “lack of integrity and a departure from the higher standards that society expects from architects and the standards that the profession expects from its members”, Arb said.

Projects Lenz worked on while at Foster & Partners included Apple Park, the headquarters of Apple in California, Kuwait International Airport, 50 United Nations Plaza in New York and Samba Tower in Riyadh.