Why regulation must focus on safety, competence and culture

Given architecture’s reputation for having a long-hours culture, it is perhaps naive to think the profession will have time to read the Architects Registration Board’s five-year corporate strategy, published last week.

But, for anyone who does have the time, I hope you will take two big messages away from reading it: firstly, our view that if we, as a society, are to tackle some of the fundamental challenges we face, architects have a critical – arguably central – role to play. These fundamental – even existential – challenges include climate change, a housing crisis (of both quality and numbers) as well as low confidence in the built environment sector, not least because of the long shadow cast by the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

The second big message is that to support the continuing confidence of the public, government and others in the built environment, including those who use the services of architects, further work is needed to raise competence, not just of those architects currently on the register, but of future architects too.

Under our previous strategy, we delivered substantial reform. We modernised the framework for architectural education and training, reviewed education competencies and overhauled the framework to enable learning providers to create more flexible courses – allowing for greater integration of academic study and practice.

We introduced a statutory continuing professional development (CPD) scheme for the first time. We made significant improvements to our operational systems and established new international registration agreements.

Our intention through the new strategy is to allow some of those reforms to bed in, but also to ensure that reforms continue where necessary. Evidence suggests that integration of academic theory and practical experience in training can make a substantial difference to both the experience and competence of newly qualified professionals.

There is a big opportunity for architects to play a leading role in reforms to regulation across the sector that are being developed by the government

We are already seeing some exciting innovations in universities and want to engage the sector in a discussion about work-based routes to registration. We also expect to implement reforms to the professional practical experience of trainees in architecture in 2026 and 2027.

We know from the Grenfell Tower inquiry reports how gaps in competence, poor culture and a lack of accountability contributed to the tragedy. There is a big opportunity for architects to play a leading role in reforms to regulation across the sector that are being developed by the government. But this relies on policymakers having the confidence that the profession has the necessary competencies to step up, as well as the right culture.

Regulation, in part through enforcement of a statutory CPD scheme, can help to build this confidence, alongside the work we are doing to identify and address areas where culture needs to improve.

When regulation works, it brings consumer and market confidence. Far from being a challenge to economic growth, proportionate and effective regulation is a pre-requisite for thriving professions and markets. Our new strategy sets out our desire to be a leader in regulatory innovation in the built environment and to work with governments across the UK.

The recent prospectus on regulation (specifically the single construction regulator) published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government talks compellingly about the need to focus on the regulatory system rather than relying on a “whack-a-mole” style of problem-solving. This system-wide and multi-professional approach is consistent with our strategy and provides an opportunity to build consumer confidence through improvements to safety, competence and culture across the built environment.