RIBA President Chris Williamson has written to the Architects Registration Board (ARB) to confirm that he will not be renewing his registration. Meaning from 2026, he will not be included on the UK’s register of architects.
The president’s move aims to draw attention to the ineffectiveness of the current regulatory system for UK architects, which only protects the legally restricted title ‘architect’ and provides no oversight of the competence of those who undertake architectural services or activities.
It therefore allows anybody to carry out the work of an architect, as long as they don’t call themselves one.
This manoeuvre paves the way for our campaign to establish a new regulatory model for UK architects based on reserved activities. This focusses on three key steps:
- Repealing the Architects Act
- Introducing new legislation defining reserved activities, which we define as submitting full planning applications, building control applications, and final compliance certificates, and who can carry them out
- Establishing a Built Environment Council to oversee the competence requirements of construction industry professional bodies who would assess the competence of individuals, who would then be included as chartered members, with the ability to undertake the reserved functions named above
Chris Williamson has said:
“Today I have written to the Architects Registration Board (ARB) to tell them I will not be renewing my registration.
Regulating the title “architect” alone offers no oversight over the competence of those who undertake architectural services or activities.
The current regulatory system means that anyone can perform the work of an architect, as long as they do not use the title.
This does nothing to ensure quality or safety in our built environment, while also placing an unnecessary financial burden on the profession with little demonstrable public benefit.
This is not a decision I have taken lightly. However, I wanted to highlight the absurdity of the current regulation and advocate for a new system – one which focuses on competence.”
Chris Williamson’s status as a RIBA Chartered Member is unchanged, as he holds RIBA qualifications Parts 1, 2 and 3.
