Scroll down to see facts and figures about ARB’s work in 2023, or click the link below to read the full 2023 Annual Report.
Alan Kershaw, Chair
Hugh Simpson, Chief Executive and Registrar
Our aspiration is to build on the global reputation of UK architectural education and training by modernising the competency outcomes for architects undertaking ARB accredited qualifications; and to improve access to the profession.
Read the Chair and Chief Executive's joint foreword to the Annual Report
Architects play a crucial role in creating a built environment that is safe, sustainable and where everyone in society can live well. As the regulator, our role is to ensure the profession and architects of the future are supported to achieve those goals. We recognise the many continuing challenges facing the profession and those in higher education delivering training to architects of the future. While our statutory responsibility lies in public protection, our regulatory philosophy is to support and encourage quality, enabling architects to operate to their maximum potential. This approach underpins our Corporate Strategy 2022-26 and our 2023 Business Plan. Our Annual Report sets out the excellent progress we have made to deliver on the commitments stated in both of these core documents.
In 2023 the Board agreed major changes to the framework within which architects are educated and trained. Our aspiration is to build on the global reputation of UK architectural education and training by modernising the competency outcomes for architects undertaking ARB accredited qualifications; and to improve access to the profession. Our new framework will mean that in future, architects will no longer need three separate qualifications to qualify in the UK (the system commonly referred to as Parts 1, 2 and 3, in place for the past 50 years) but will need to have an ARB accredited Master’s level qualification and practice qualification. We have made this change to enable learning providers to innovate, offer opportunities for quicker routes to registration and increase access to the profession from non-traditional routes. As part of these reforms we have brought forward changes to our quality assurance processes, with new standards for learning providers and a new risk-based methodology for the accreditation of qualifications, including a new Accreditation Committee which operates independently of our Board.
Each year on 14 June we remember the victims of the Grenfell Tower tragedy. 2024 will see the seventh anniversary and we at ARB must continue to play our part to ensure architects are at the forefront of the culture change and competency shift required in the built environment. In 2023, under new powers set out in the Building Safety Act 2022, our Board agreed the new statutory continuing professional development (CPD) scheme which will apply to all registered architects from 2024. This new scheme was designed with extensive consultation and piloting, and will now mean CPD is a condition of registration for all architects. The scheme brings architects into line with other regulated professions and provides assurance to the public about their continuing competence and professionalism. The Board has agreed that in the first year of operation architects will need to provide evidence of CPD in relation to environmental sustainability and fire and life safety design. We have worked closely with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) to ensure their members can choose to record their CPD through RIBA’s platform, avoiding duplication.
In 2023 ARB took exciting steps to help UK architects join registers in other parts of the world. We signed mutual recognition agreements (MRAs) with our counterparts in the USA, Australia and New Zealand, making the process that UK architects must follow to join registers in these countries quicker and easier, and vice versa for eligible architects from these countries. Our MRA with the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB, our US counterpart) was the first of its kind and was hailed a ‘landmark agreement’ by the Government. The agreements we’ve signed provide opportunities for us to strengthen international business relationships, and to boost jobs, investment and exports.
The Register of Architects is the only complete and authoritative source that includes information for every UK architect. In April 2023, we published a major piece of research into the makeup of the profession. Our findings showed which groups are currently overrepresented and which are underrepresented, and provided a clear evidence base for both ARB and the profession to work together to tackle some of the structural and cultural barriers that exist.
We continue to make necessary investments in our IT infrastructure to boost cybersecurity and bring much needed stability to our IT estate. These investments, which began in 2022 and are scheduled to be completed in 2024/25, will also ensure architects can manage their own registration details 24 hours a day and 365 days of the year.
This ambitious reform agenda has provided many challenges for our Board and staff team who have done a fantastic job in 2023. Despite the scale of change, our staff turnover remains (at 13%) below industry comparators, and feedback gathered from our staff engagement survey has been very positive.
It has been a busy, productive year at ARB during which we made some major advances in the way we regulate, improving our capacity to regulate effectively and to keep the public safe. We are confident that 2024 will be equally fruitful and we want to take this opportunity to thank Board members, the staff team and our many associates for their hard work and dedication to our values.
3 Jan
Consultation on draft guidance for a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) scheme closed
8 Feb
ARB publishes proposals for a new regulatory framework for initial education and training and launches Tomorrow’s Architects, a consultation on the proposed reforms
16 Feb
ARB signs a Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) with our US counterpart, NCARB
15 March
ARB signs an MRA with our counterparts in Australia and New Zealand, AACA and NZRAB
12 April
Publication of Architects Today, a major piece of analysis of the makeup of the profession
7 June
Launch of the CPD consultation report outlining the next steps
6 Sept
A new Accreditation Committee is approved
7 Sept
Tomorrow’s Architects consultation results are published, with new Competencies and Standards approved
12 Sept
MyARB, our self-service portal for architects, is launched
13 Dec
Guidance on the CPD scheme is published
Accreditation
Accredited qualifications delivered by 67 learning providers
Qualifications renewed across 11 learning providers
(40 qualifications renewed across 18 institutions in 2022)
New qualifications accredited across 7 learning providers
(6 qualifications accredited across 5 institutions in 2022)
Accredited qualifications monitored across 56 learning providers
(131 qualifications monitored across 62 institutions in 2022)
In 2023, we notified RIAI of:
New qualifications
Change to an existing award title
Governance and International
Active MRAs with 3 partner organisations

National Council of Architectural Registration Boards

Architects Accreditation Council of Australia

New Zealand Registered Architects Board
Active MoUs with 3 partner organisations

Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland

Architects Accreditation Council of Australia

New Zealand Registered Architects Board
MRAs under development with 2 partner organisations

Regulatory Organizations of Architecture in Canada

Architects Council of Europe
MoU under development with 1 partner organisation

Architects Registration Board Hong Kong
Professional Standards
Complaints received
(187 in 2022)
Complaints resolved without the need for formal action
(113 in 2022)
Architects referred to the Professional Conduct Committee
(44 in 2022)
Incidents of title misuse investigated
(301 in 2022)
Architects referred for investigation
(74 in 2022)
Suspensions
(2 in 2022)
Erasures
(3 in 2022)
Registration
Architects on the Register
(41,240 in 2022)
Architects removed from the Register
(2,830 in 2022)
- 43 deaths
- 1,502 resignations
- 1,404 architects removed for non-payment of annual fee
New admissions from the UK route
(1,075 in 2022)
%
Of UK admissions processed within 15 working days
New admissions from EU routes
(222 in 2022)
%
Of EU admissions processed within 15 working days
Ethnicity of new Registrants in 2023
- White: 73.5%
- Asian or Asian British: 16.8%
- Black or Black British: 2.9%
- Mixed or Multiple Ethnic Groups: 5.0%
- Any other ethnic background: 1.6%
Gender of new Registrants in 2023
- Female: 46.7%
- Male: 53.2%
- Other: 0.3%
Corporate
Financials
Expenditure: 7,516,175
Income: 8,267,810
Suppliers paid within 30 days
(84% in 2022)
Total permanent staff at year end
(44 at the end of 2022)
New hires
(11 in 2022)
Policy and Communications
Average audience for six issues of ARB Insight
(45,095 for five issues in 2022)
Attendees for eight online events and two in person events
(431 attendees for five events in 2022)
Followers on five social media platforms
(43,737 in 2022)
Visits to arb.org.uk
(369,225 in 2022)
Visits to the Register
(179,010 in 2022)
Responses across 4 public consultations
Joint events to mark MRAs signings, hosted with 8 partners
- Architects Accreditation Council of Australia
- American Institute of Architects
- British Consulate General Sydney
- British Embassy in Washington
- Department for Business and Trade
- Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
- National Council of Architectural Registration Boards
- New Zealand Registered Architects Board
- Royal Institute of British Architects