Government launches call for evidence to inform architects’ regulation

The government has launched a call for evidence to inform its strategy for strengthening regulation around built environment professions including architects.

Feedback provided to the 12-week consultation will influence the development of the new single construction regulator, one of the key recommendations made by the second phase of the Grenfell Inquiry.

Issues covered in the questionnaire include the competence of architects and whether “skills, knowledge and experience align with the functions being performed”.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) said it will publish a strategy for the new regime in 2027 which will support its vision for a “building system where buildings are safe, high-performing and sustainable”. 

The call for evidence document acknowledges that the regulation of different built environment roles has developed “unevenly”, with architects regulated by title and other roles including principal designers having statutory duties attached to specific functions.

ARB has been working with the Government on approaches to strengthening the regulatory system and how it can “better support public safety and consumer protection”. 

This work has included asking the government to look “more broadly at the way architects are regulated” and whether the public would be “better served if certain higher-risk design activities were subject to clearer requirements around competence and accountability”. 

“Many countries regulate aspects of professional function in different ways, and we have encouraged government to review what a proportionate, system-wide approach in the UK could look like,” Arb said in January. 

The body said yesterday that it welcomed the call for evidence as a “further step in the Government’s work to consider how standards, competence and accountability can be strengthened across the built environment”.  

The call for evidence closes on 12 August and can be accessed here.