Welcome to the July eBulletin.
We are all deeply shocked and saddened by the Grenfell Tower fire tragedy. In the wake of this terrible fire, the public and media focus on regulation in the construction profession is understandably heightened. Many are interested to learn more about the nature and extent of the regulatory safeguards which exist in the public interest. At this time, we continue to work hard to communicate our role as a regulator to both the profession and the users of architects’ services so that people are aware of the protections in place. We have published a statement on our website in response to the inquiries we have received.
The recent Periodic Review of the regulation of architects, conducted by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), is also a key area of focus for us at present. We are working with the Department to move forward with the recommendations from the Review starting with the move towards an all appointed Board which will bring ARB into line with best practice among other regulated professions. When DCLG advertises these appointments, we will reach out to the profession to encourage applications from a diverse range of high calibre candidates, who have the skills and expertise required to support the work of a modern regulator. At the July Board meeting, we were provided with an update on the Periodic Review and you can read more about this in an article in this eBulletin.
At our recent Board meeting, we discussed our proposals to undertake ‘business as usual’ reviews of the Criteria and the Procedures that underpin the qualifications we recognise. Subject to discussion with the DCLG, the Board decided that the next step should be to undertake a pre-consultation exercise in the early autumn, and to report the findings of the exercise to the Board in November, so that we can then make decisions on the way forward. Please look out for more information on our website over the coming weeks.
Myself and my fellow Board colleagues discussed a number of other matters at the Board meeting including:
- An update on mid-year performance against the 2017 Business Plan,
- Annual reports from the Prescription Committee and the Investigations Oversight Committee,
- A mid-year report on statistics, trends and performance indicators for 2017,
- The Management Accounts 2017 and Year-end Forecast, and
- The Business Plan and Priorities 2017-2018.
We reviewed the organisation’s mid-year performance and agreed a request for additional resources; with these in place, ARB is on track to meet its challenging targets.
I would like to finish by saying that I am delighted to have been re-elected as Chair of the ARB and look forward to continuing to work with Richard Parnaby, who has been re-elected as Vice-Chair, and the other Board Members as we continue to regulate the profession in the public interest. A key element of our work is stakeholder engagement and we are keen to hear the views of others, if you would like to speak to us please email us at info@arb.org.uk or you can call us on +44 (0) 20 7580 5861.
Best wishes,
Nabila Zulfiqar
