ARB publishes 2022 Annual Report and Financial Statements

The Architects Registration Board (ARB) has today published its Annual Report and Financial Statements for 2022.

The Annual Report, which has also been laid in Parliament, details how ARB has carried out its work as an independent professional regulator, established as a statutory body through the Architects Act 1997.

It details key facts and figures for the Architects Register and ARB’s regulatory activities in 2022, including:

• The number of architects on the Register remained stable. There were 41,240 architects on the Register compared to an equivalent figure of 42,170 in 2021.
• There were 1,075 new admissions to the Register from the UK route of qualifications, and 222 from EU routes.
• ARB accredited six new architecture qualifications, renewed 40 existing qualifications and carried out annual monitoring for 131 qualifications.
• ARB received 187 complaints and investigated 301 incidents of misuse of the title ‘architect’.

In 2022 ARB made progress in several key areas of its Corporate Strategy:

• The new mandatory scheme for continuing professional development – The draft guidance for the scheme was published in September 2022 along with a consultation that closed in January.
• Proposals for modernising initial education and training – June 2022 saw the publication of a survey report which revealed overwhelming support for modernising initial education and training, and welcomed ARB’s ambition that this modernisation would allow for more and different routes into the profession. A change in structure and a new outcomes-based approach were key elements of ARB’s proposals.
• The development of new international routes to registration – Final discussions on mutual recognition agreements with partners in the USA, Australia and New Zealand took place, in anticipation of signing the first of these in 2023 to help architects register between the UK and other countries.
• Continuing to transform its technology and invest in its people as part of improving its regulatory processes.

Architects can see more facts and figures about ARB’s role and work, and read the full report, on ARB’s website.

—ENDS—

Notes for Editors:

The full Annual Report and Financial Statements can be accessed here.

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. ARB does this by approving the qualifications required to join the UK Register of Architects.
• ARB maintains 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
• ARB sets 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
• ARB protects the legally restricted title ‘architect’

Work with ARB and connect: Architects can join ARB’s Architects Engagement Group to take part in events, conversations or research to help shape the work set out in the Annual Report. More details about this and other ways to get in touch can be found here: arb.org.uk/talk-to-us/

For questions and information requests, please contact the ARB Communications team at media@arb.org.uk