Welcome to the July eBulletin.

This is my last Chair’s message to you as I complete my eight year tenure, nearly all of which has been as Chair of the Architects Registration Board (ARB). I am delighted to hand over to my colleague Peter Coe, with whom I have served on the Board for a number of years. Peter has substantial experience of ARB and the wider regulatory sector. I feel confident that I am leaving in place a strong Board to oversee the work of a highly professional team. I know that Peter will value the support of Richard Parnaby, who has been re-elected as Vice Chair, and the rest of the Board as they continue to direct the work of the regulator in the future.

At the July Board meeting, the Registrar, Karen Holmes, reported on an update received from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) in relation to the periodic review. She advised that DCLG intends to publish the final report from the Periodic Review of Architect Regulation and the ARB in the autumn following a quick review of whether or not the referendum result impacts on it.

In relation to the outcome of the EU referendum, the current legislation very much remains in place and thus we continue to deliver ‘business as usual’, regulating the profession in the public interest as required by our statutory mandate. We have included a short article on this subject, to view this click here.

At the July Board meeting we reviewed the Management Accounts, the Annual Report of the Prescription Committee and noted progress made against the 2016 Business Plan. If you have time, I would recommend you have a look at the Report to the Board on Statistics, Trends and Performance Indicators for the first six months of 2016 which gives you a sense of our recent work. We also heard a verbal report from ARB’s Investment Broker and agreed changes to the Policy on External Professionals and Advisers. The Board agreed minor revisions to the Code of Conduct and we will be working to communicate these over the coming months.

Planning is already underway for our work programme in 2017. At the July meeting we considered ARB’s Priorities for the next four years and initial thoughts on the 2017 Business Plan. Further work will be undertaken on this in the coming weeks as we consider plans and the budget for next year and we will discuss these again at the September Board meeting.

In my final message I want to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the excellent team in ARB, and to Karen Holmes in particular. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my role, and know I’m leaving a strong board and effective organisation behind. I wish everyone well.