ARB launches consultation on proposed changes to professional practical experience

The Architects Registration Board (ARB) has today launched a consultation on proposed changes to professional practical experience (PPE), aimed at improving fair and consistent access to high-quality experience for future architects.  

The proposals set out how ARB intends to strengthen support for trainees as they progress towards registration. They include: 

• introducing a coordinating role for learning providers, through changes to ARB’s Standards for Learning Providers and Accreditation Handbook; 
• establishing a Trainee Record of Experience to help trainees track and reflect on their experience; 
• publishing new guidance for employers and trainees to clarify expectations and supervision responsibilities; and 
• updating ARB’s Registration Rules, including removing the current requirement for a minimum of two years’ practical experience, while maintaining the standard required to join the Register. 

Together, the changes are designed to improve the quality and consistency of practical experience, provide clearer support and oversight for trainees, and help them navigate their route to registration more effectively. 

Alan Kershaw, Chair of the Architects Registration Board, said:   

“Professional practical experience is a vital part of becoming an architect, but the responsibility for securing high-quality experience should not rest solely with individual trainees. Learning providers and the wider sector have an important role to play in supporting and guiding future architects in their journey to registration.  

These proposals are intended to strengthen the connection between education and registration. By providing clearer expectations, guidance and tools for learning providers and employers, we aim to ensure that all aspiring architects have a fair and consistent opportunity to gain high-quality professional practical experience and demonstrate the required competencies.” 

The proposals have been informed by extensive engagement with learning providers, employers and other sector bodies across the UK. 

This consultation will be open until 15 April 2026 and ARB is inviting feedback from trainees, learning providers, employers and others with an interest or expertise in professional practical experience. 

Interested individuals can find out more about the proposals on the ARB website, and respond to the consultation on Citizen Space.

ENDS 

Notes to editors  

Useful links  

Submit your views to the consultation  

View ARB’s response and the detailed plan  

View the Professional Practical Experience Commission report  

About ARB  

ARB is an independent professional regulator, established by Parliament as a statutory body, through the Architects Act, in 1997. We are accountable to government.   

• The law gives ARB a number of core functions:   
• To ensure only those who are suitably competent are allowed to practise as architects. We do this by approving the architecture qualifications required to join the Register of architects.   
• To maintain a publicly available Register of architects so anyone using the services of an architect can be confident that they are suitably qualified and are fit to practise.   
• To set the standards of conduct and practice the profession must meet and take action when any architect falls below the required standards of conduct or competence.   
• To set requirements for and monitor the continuous professional development that architects must undertake, to provide assurance to the public about the continuing competence of the profession.   
• To protect the legally restricted title ‘architect’.  

Professional Practical Experience 

Alongside obtaining the required ARB recognised qualifications, trainees must also undertake a period of supervised practical experience in the construction sector to be eligible for registration. This element of a trainee’s pathway to registration is known as professional practical experience (PPE). 

Professional Practical Experience Commission  

In 2024 and as part of ARB’s wider education reforms, the Professional Practical Experience (PPE) Commission was appointed to investigate the challenges faced by architecture trainees seeking suitable work experience. Following extensive engagement with trainees, learning providers and practices across the UK, the Commission published its recommendations in April 2025 to transform how future architects gain quality professional practical experience. The Commission made three headline recommendations:  

• ARB should remove constraints to flexibility and innovation to lead sustainable change across the profession. 
• Learning providers should take a coordinating role in facilitating trainees’ acquisition of all the Competency Outcomes. 
• Significant improvements in workplace culture and support should be secured to strengthen how competence is gained. 

ARB welcomed this report and in response published a comprehensive plan outlining the steps it would take towards strengthening access to relevant and quality practical experience.  

Details on ARB’s response to the PPE Commission’s recommendations and implementation plan are available here.  

How these proposals were developed 

As part of its response to the PPE Commission’s recommendations, ARB committed to: 

• Developing the detailed requirements and responsibilities for a coordinating role for learning providers, by engaging closely and collaboratively with learning providers. 
• Setting minimum requirements for a new standardised Trainee Record of Experience (TRE), and to work with a new reference group to develop the TRE. 

The proposals published today for how to implement these elements were informed by extensive engagement with learning providers, employers and other sector bodies across the UK, and included: 

• Three focus groups on the coordinating role were held, attended by 18 learning providers who saw early drafts of our proposals and shared direct feedback. The first was with learning providers who we anticipated were already meeting many of the requirements we were considering. The second was with a range of providers to test our ideas across different sizes, qualification formats and locations. The third was with a smaller group who had told us they would find it difficult to meet one or more of the requirements we were considering. 
• A survey to hear from a wider number of learning providers than we could accommodate in a focus group format. We received 65 responses, 28 of which were official responses on behalf of learning providers.  
• Respondents reinforced the findings from the PPE Commission in showing that most respondents had observed the problems it highlighted. Most respondents thought they would definitely or might be able to meet the new ideas for requirements in future. This was also the case for official responses on behalf of learning providers. Many of their concerns were based on misconceptions or a lack of available detail for them to evaluate the ideas.  
• A Reference Group to support the development of the Trainee Record of Experience, composed of learning providers and employers across the UK, and organisations with relevant expertise (RIBA, APSA, SCOSA, APEAS). This Reference Group has now met four times, with discussions focusing on the application of the TRE and its minimum requirements and stakeholders. These discussions helped us define the minimum requirements and areas for supplementary advice.  
• Further meetings and discussions included a workshop with the ARB Board, learning providers and employers in Glasgow and a session at our October 2025 conference to discuss the coordinating role and what practices and learning providers need from each other.  
• A separate meeting with APEAS to discuss the specific arrangements in Scotland so that we could plan how these would interact with our proposals, and shared updates on our work with APSA and SCOSA. 

Media enquiries 

For more information, please contact media@arb.org.uk.