Architects Registration Board (ARB)

ARB is the UK's independent statutory regulator of architects, keeping the Register of Architects and protecting the title 'architect'.

About Architects Registration Board (ARB)

The Architects Registration Board, or ARB, is the independent body set up by law to regulate architects in the UK. In plain terms, only people on its register may call themselves an architect, and ARB is the organisation that decides who can join. It keeps and publishes the Register of Architects, recognises the UK qualifications needed to become an architect, sets standards of competence, issues the code of conduct and practice, and looks into complaints about an architect's conduct or competence. It is also the UK's competent authority for architects, which means it is the contact point for architects' qualifications in dealings with other countries.

ARB's purpose is to deliver the Architects Act 1997. Its stated objectives are to protect the users and potential users of architects' services, and to support architects through regulation. It lists six values: proportionality, objectivity, openness, transparency, integrity and consistency. Put simply, it wants rules that fit the risk, decisions based on evidence and decisions made in public where possible. This is a regulator, not a membership club, so its job is to protect the public rather than to promote the profession.

The history is closely tied to the profession. Architects campaigned to protect their title, and the Architects (Registration) Act of 1931 created the Architects Registration Council of the United Kingdom. In 1996 it was reconstituted as ARB, and the Architects Act 1997 brought the earlier laws together and created the Professional Conduct Committee. That committee can reprimand an architect, fine them up to GBP 5,000, suspend them for up to two years or remove them from the register. ARB's office is at 5th floor, 70 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1X 8NH, according to its published purpose and objectives document, which we read; the document is dated January 2019, so check the current address before writing to them.

ARB has a board of 11 members, five of whom are public members appointed by the Privy Council, and its sponsoring government department is the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Staff at a regulator do work such as maintaining the register, assessing applications and qualifications, handling complaints and investigations, supporting hearings, communications, policy and finance. People who like fairness, careful reading and clear writing do well in this kind of body. We could not find a description of ARB's internal culture, so we have not made one up.

ARB matters to anyone who wants to become an architect, because registration is the legal step at the end of the route. ARB prescribes the qualifications, and RIBA validates courses against criteria the two share. The route normally runs through Part 1 and Part 2 study and then Part 3 professional experience and exam. The ARB website explains the process and lists the recognised UK qualifications.

What they do

• {'desc': 'Keeps and publishes the legal register of UK architects.', 'title': 'Register of Architects'}
• {'desc': 'Prescribes the qualifications needed and sets the code of conduct and practice.', 'title': 'Qualifications and standards'}
• {'desc': 'Investigates complaints about conduct or competence and can sanction architects.', 'title': 'Complaints and conduct'}

Key facts

• Reconstituted as ARB in 1996; Architects Act 1997 is its governing law
• Board of 11 members, five of them public members appointed by the Privy Council
• Office at 70 Gray's Inn Road, London (per a January 2019 ARB document)
• Professional Conduct Committee can fine up to GBP 5,000 or remove an architect from the register

Website: arb.org.uk