One of our guiding principles is to support you through regulation. On 19 March, we established Coronavirus section on our website to help us quickly convey the latest advice to you, as well as helpful information about impacts to our operations and regulatory activities.

arb.org.uk/coronavirus
Information in this section is being regularly reviewed and updated as we learn more and as circumstances change. Currently, it includes:

ARB’s Operations
From 18 March our entire team switched to working remotely. This section contains information on how to contact us during this time, and an overview of how our operations have changed.

On 8 April, our Board met to explore how best to protect the public and support architects through regulation under current circumstances. They discussed our newly devised COVID-19 Risk Register and reviewed our 2020 Business Plan to ensure our resources are directed where they are needed most.

Practising as an architect
Here you can find advice on how to meet your regulatory responsibilities during the pandemic. More details about this section, including the latest advice on the furlough scheme, can be found in this edition’s Dear Architect.

Prescribed Examinations
In order to align with social distancing advice, we are exploring alternative ways of holding the examinations. We are giving this careful consideration as anything we establish must be both safe and ensure regulatory requirements are met.

More details about those exam dates, those affected directly by changes and those wishing to sit the exam in future can be found on this page.

Prescribed Qualifications
We set the UK educational standards for architects, and prescribe the UK qualifications required to join the Architects Register in order to become an architect.

We have two sections for prescribed qualifications, where you can find details of how we’re working with and supporting education providers delivering prescribed qualifications as well as information for those studying those qualifications.

Our hope is that this information will help most of those we engage with. Alongside these pages we continue to provide bespoke advice to those who contact us.

If you have queries or concerns that are not covered by our Coronavirus pages you can contact us at info@arb.org.uk or on 0207 580 5861 and we will be happy to help.