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By the end of 2030 we will have completed the modernisation of our services to registrants, have worked in alignment with government and other regulators to improve culture, competency and safety, and be able to use data to inform regulatory policy.
Why it matters
As a statutory regulator, ARB must operate within the scope of its legislation. Within those boundaries, however, we are committed to innovating and moving beyond narrow debates about how regulation is characterised. Our focus is on ensuring that regulation serves the public interest while enabling and encouraging the profession to apply its considerable experience and skills for the wider public good.
When regulation works, it brings consumer and market confidence. Far from being a challenge to economic growth, proportionate and effective regulation is a pre-requisite for thriving professions and markets. We aspire to being a leader in regulatory innovation in the built environment and to work with governments across the UK to enable the profession to rise to the challenges presented by the climate change imperative and the need to improve quality and safety in the built environment.
Our focus
Government has rightly challenged regulators to demonstrate how their work does not impose unnecessary burdens. We intend to be more ambitious: we want regulation to positively support confidence in the sector and enable growth and recognition of the skills and competence of the profession.
Being a modern regulator means ensuring we focus on ‘what works’, by evaluating our impact and being willing to stop things which are demonstrably not working.
We have invested heavily in our IT infrastructure so that we can reduce the burden on architects registering with us and carrying out CPD. Through our IT transformation architects can manage their registration online, remotely, at any time of day. We are also opening up routes to registration so that we focus on how we can enable competent professionals to register, rather than taking an overly risk-averse model of regulation.
Over the next five years, our work across all statutory functions must be ambitious for both the public and the profession, proportionate to risk to the public, and focused on promoting high standards and confidence in the profession.
Our five-year vision
- Research and data analytics will drive our regulatory work. This data will be published to share insights with the public and profession about the ‘state of the sector’
- Efficiencies in our operational processes will be demonstrated year-on-year as we control our costs base and support our strategic goals for long term financial sustainability
- We will deliver measurable improvements to our operational engagement with architects through a ‘customer-focused’ approach
- ARB will report on environmental sustainability and demonstrate support for climate change initiatives
- Equality, diversity and inclusion will be embedded within our organisation
- Professionals will be held to account, and the public protected, through improved investigations and title investigations that are more efficient and utilise technology
What we will do
- We will establish and deliver a refreshed IT strategy, with necessary governance, to enable us to harness AI and other technology. Our focus will be driving more effective and efficient regulation, recognising risks in relation to new technology
- Implement a new organisational performance management framework, with measurable and transparent performance indicators, to support the delivery of our new Corporate Strategy and Business Plans. This will be published on a quarterly basis to ensure our Board, stakeholders and government can hold us to account on our progress to deliver our statutory functions
- Modernise our investigations model, one of our high-risk and high-cost processes, to identify opportunities for efficiency savings and quality improvements
- Review our regulatory framework in light of the government’s post-Grenfell regulatory reform agenda. This will include assessing the effectiveness of title regulation and exploring alternative models that could better support our statutory purpose.
- Improve our stakeholder relationships by growing our engagement with practices; reaching trainees more often and earlier; using more regular and constructive engagement with learning providers. We will also consider how best to assess public confidence in the regulation of architects
- Collaborate with government and other leadership bodies across industry to drive improvements in the quality of the built environment
- Equip our staff and associates with the right skills and support to deliver our Corporate Strategy effectively
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