I am delighted to begin this month’s message by noting the re-election of myself as Chair of the Board and my fellow Board member, Richard Parnaby, as Vice Chair.  I’m hopeful our re-election will provide stability and consistency at a time when there are a number of demands on the organisation.  We both welcome the opportunity to use our experience and knowledge to support the work of the organisation.

I can also announce that following a property review that considered service stability, strategic benefits and cost efficiency, the Board has decided that ARB should remain at their London offices until 2024.  Location options both in and outside of London were carefully explored and the process led to additional savings and the security of a fixed-rate rent until 2024.  Remaining at Weymouth Street provides a stable base from which we can continue to deliver our regulatory duties at a time when significant projects are in progress and Brexit is on the horizon.

As an organisation we are committed to continuous improvement and at July’s Board meeting, the Board was asked to discuss a proposal to revise the way we report to the Board.  Currently, ARB works to a Statement of Priorities for 2017-2020 featuring 16 priority areas and an annual Business Plan featuring both core work and developmental operational objectives to be achieved in that year.

The proposed new approach would introduce a three year Strategic Objectives plan focussed on a few strategic objectives.  The achievement of these objectives would be supported by an annual Business Plan that reports on project work and a bi-annual Reporting to the Board paper that will cover core work.

The new approach will reduce duplicate reporting, enable the Business Plan to become a more focussed document and allow the Board to set strategic goals over a longer period of time.  The Board were satisfied with the proposal and the new Strategic Objectives plan and Business Plan will be considered by the Board our next meeting on 11 September 2018.

An update on the mid-year performance against the 2017/2018 Business Plan was also presented to the Board.  The Plan notes our commitment to support the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government in implementing a fully appointed Board, by assisting with activities such as recruitment.  We will keep you informed of updates relating to recruitment throughout the process.  Visit our Talk To Us website page for a range of ways to stay connected with ARB.

July’s Board meeting also included a mid-year statistical report to provide the Board with information on ARB’s operational performance from January to June 2018.  I’m pleased to note the report showed positive results in relation to raising awareness of the Architects Register, with visits to the Register up by nearly 20% compared to the same time frame in 2017.  The Architects Register now exceeds 40,000 registrants though the report outlined a drop in both UK and EU applications to the Register in the first 6 months of the year, a trend we will continue to monitor and scrutinise.

The report also revealed that more professional conduct complaints were received than last year and more complaints were referred for further investigation.  For context, 90 conduct and competence complaints were received January-June 2018 and there were nine Professional Conduct Committee hearings (equivalent to approximately 0.02% of the Register). As well as protecting users of architects’ services our aim is to support architects through regulation, where we identify common areas of concern we endeavour to provide advice and guidance to help others avoid these common pitfalls.  As well as offering individual advice, this support includes a dedicated Dear Architect article in every Ebulletin and Guidance Notes on our website.

Annex A to the report showed that we have work to do in relation to some of our Key Performance Indicators.  We intend to use the findings from the ongoing Section 14 Review, covered in our last Ebulletin, to enhance the fairness and efficiency of the current procedures for how ARB investigates allegations made about registered architects.  Information on the upcoming public consultation will be included in future communications.

I hope you enjoy reading July’s Ebulletin.  If you have any feedback on our Ebulletin and its contents, you can contact us via our Talk To Us page or by phone on +44 (0)20 7580 5861.

Nabila Zulfiqar

Chair
Architects Registration Board