Welcome to the December eBulletin.

As we approach the end of the year our focus turns to the collection of the 2017 retention fee. Last year over 95% of registrants paid on time, and by working hard to alert registrants to the end of December due date we are hoping to improve on this figure.

At the November Board meeting we received updates on the organisation’s work over recent months, particularly in relation to ensuring the accuracy of the information on the Register. The Board noted that a number of very constructive meetings have taken place with key stakeholders including the Architects Council of Europe; the European Network of Architects Competent Authorities (ENACA); the RIBA and the Architects Benevolent Society. You can read more about our work over the last few months in the Operational Activity report and the Chairman’s report.

As a Board we took decisions on a number of important matters, including agreeing an amendment to our future investment policy. We have always been mindful of the need to manage carefully the money we hold in reserves and consequently we made a modest change by adopting a lower risk investment strategy for the coming year. In addition to this, we discussed the proposed review of the eligibility requirements for the prescribed exam and agreed that it would be inappropriate to commence this until the wider review of routes to registration takes place. The Board also approved small changes to ARB’s travel and subsistence policy and to the staff headcount as well as hearing about the organisation’s work in the area of equality and diversity.

Looking ahead, the new Code of Conduct will come into force on 1 January 2017, which will be digitally available. An email providing more details about this new document will be going out to all architects soon.

If you have any questions please contact the staff team via email at info@arb.org.uk or via telephone on +44 (0) 20 7580 5861.

Sincere good wishes to you and your families as we enter the festive season.