As a Board we understand the importance of healthy relationships and effective joint working both internally and with those impacted by our role as regulator of the profession.  I am keen for us to develop our understanding of the professions’ needs and its future landscape to help inform our policy and how we communicate with those most interested in our work.

The Chief Executive and I met with the President, Chief Executive and Executive Director of Professional Services of RIBA on 21 March 2018.  Much of our conversation focussed on working together to raise awareness of the Register to ensure consumers make informed choices.  As you may have seen the RIBA president, Ben Derbyshire, and I recently co-wrote an article for the RIBA Journal stating our commitment to working in a complementary way.  We recognise the value of a wide range of views and welcome the opinions of those who wish to engage with us.

In February I wrote to Dominic Raab MP, Minister of State for Housing, to invite further engagement about the work we are undertaking at present and our Registrar and Chief Executive recently met with William Richardson our new sponsor lead at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.  In regards to Brexit we are continuing to work with our sponsoring government department in planning for our departure from the EU and the opportunities this may bring.

I recently met with ARB’s Operational Management Group (OMG) to explore opportunities to refine our working relationship to ensure we are as effective as possible.  The OMG is headed by our Registrar and is responsible for managing and overseeing all aspects of ARB’s operations.  The meeting was productive and generated ideas to improve the way we work together including, for example, a commitment to include more context on items in Board/Committee papers so that members have the appropriate level of information to meet its responsibilities.

As we move beyond the Periodic Review, ARB is entering a new phase of reflection and development.  We’re dedicated to seeking continuous improvement and ensuring we deliver effective and efficient regulation.  We have a number of reviews underway or starting including the Criteria and Procedures review, the Section 14 review and the Prescribed Examination review which you can read more about in this edition of our Ebulletin.

I hope you enjoy reading May’s Ebulletin and if you have any feedback or comments 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