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The Architects Registration Board (ARB) has approved a new Registration Assurance Process (RAP) that will modernise how architects join and return to the Register, while maintaining the standards the public expects.
The RAP introduces a clearer and more structured approach for confirming that applicants meet ARB’s competence requirements, including new routes for applicants whose circumstances do not fit the traditional qualification pathway. ARB will implement these changes in spring 2027.
A more proportionate approach to confirming competence
The RAP forms part of ARB’s wider programme of reforms to routes to registration. It supports ARB’s move to a competence-based regulatory framework aligned with its Academic Outcomes and Practice Outcomes, and the removal of the requirement for a recognised Part 1 qualification within the future education model.
The RAP ensures that applicants can demonstrate that they meet the required standard for registration in a way that is proportionate to their individual circumstances, while maintaining confidence that all architects entering or re-entering the Register are competent to practise.
New routes within the Registration Assurance Process
The RAP introduces three routes that allow competence to be confirmed where existing arrangements do not always reflect current qualification and practice pathways:
Route P – for applicants without a Part 1 qualification
Applicants with accredited Part 2 and Part 3 qualifications will be able to apply for registration without holding a recognised Part 1 qualification. This reflects ARB’s move away from reliance on historic qualification structures where competence can already be demonstrated through more advanced qualifications.
Route R – for professionals returning after time away from practice
Applicants who have been off the Register for more than two years, or who completed their practice qualification (Part 3) more than two years ago but did not register at the time, can use a streamlined process to demonstrate that their knowledge and skills remain current before joining or re-joining the Register.
Route C – for architects removed for CPD non-compliance
Architects removed from the Register for failing to meet Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements will be able to return once they have demonstrated that they have identified and planned for meeting their professional development needs.
Together, these routes provide a clearer mechanism for confirming competence in situations where the existing system does not always reflect current practice pathways.
Safeguards to maintain confidence in the Register
The RAP introduces additional safeguards where appropriate.
Applicants returning through Route C will complete a Personal Development Plan (PDP) before re-joining the Register. PDPs may also be used selectively in Route R where additional assurance is needed.
This approach ensures that flexibility in routes to registration is matched by appropriate assurance of competence.
Part of a wider programme of reform
The RAP forms part of ARB’s broader programme to modernise routes to registration, alongside:
- a new competence-based Prescribed Examination aligned to ARB’s education reforms; and
- a new Readiness for Practice UK learning and assessment module to replace the UK Adaptation Assessment.
These changes are expected to be introduced in spring 2027.
ARB consulted on the RAP proposals between October 2025 and February 2026. Responses showed strong support for a more proportionate approach to confirming competence while maintaining standards. A full consultation report is available on ARB’s website.
Alan Kershaw, ARB Chair, said:
“The Registration Assurance Process introduces a clearer and more proportionate way to confirm that applicants meet the standard required for registration as an architect.
It ensures that competent professionals are not prevented from joining or returning to the Register because of unnecessary procedural barriers, while maintaining confidence in the standards the public expects.”
Further information about the RAP and associated changes to routes to registration is available on the ARB website.
Notes to editors
Useful links
New and improved routes to registration – Consultation analysis report
Consultation on new proposed routes for registration
Changes to Routes to Registration
About ARB
The Architects Registration Board (ARB) is an independent professional regulator, established by Parliament as a statutory body, through the Architects Act, in 1997. It is 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’.
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