As the wider built environment faces shifting priorities – from the climate emergency, to building safety and ethical accountability – the architecture profession finds itself in a period of reflection and renewal.
Part of a cultural evolution within the profession, the Architects Registration Board’s (ARB) has introduced a revised set of professional standards that came into force on 1 September 2025. The previous version had been in place since 2017.
ARB has presented the Architects Code: Standards of Conduct and Practice as less prescriptive, reducing its previous 12 principles to just six broader standards that the regulator says will define professionalism for modern UK architects.
What in ARB's Architects Code?
The updated Code ushers in a new emphasis on public safety and the need to act with competence, which can be seen as a direct response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy. It also encourages architects to create a more inclusive and diverse built environment, and there’s a recognition of the profession’s responsibilities towards the wider community and environment as well as to the consumers of services.
The updated code sets out its requirements under six broad standards:
- Honesty and integrity: Architects are expected to demonstrate impartial judgment based on evidence, promoting their services responsibly and accurately, declaring and appropriately managing any conflicts of interest, being transparent about any inducements offered or received, and cooperating with formal inquiries or investigations by ARB.
- Public interest: To meet the standard architects are expected to enhance the environment through their work, protect the health and safety of everyone involved with buildings, from construction to use, challenge actions that pose risks to people or the environment and report them to the appropriate authorities if necessary, and decline any work that would require them to act against the code's standards
- Competence: To meet the standard architects are expected to recognise and work within the limits of their competence; stay up to date with current standards and good practice; learn from feedback and address their individual learning needs, ensuring anyone they engage to work on their behalf is also competent; and encourage the professional development of those they are responsible for.
- Professional practice: This includes providing clients with clear, understandable, written terms of engagement before starting any work; effectively planning, monitoring, and managing their work in a timely manner, ensuring they have sufficient resources and capacity to deliver their services effectively; establishing processes for the regular monitoring and review of projects, maintaining accurate records of their work and decisions, and protecting the confidentiality and security of information they are responsible for.
- Communication and collaboration: This means communicating in a way that is appropriate for an architect's audience; understanding and confirming a client's initial requirements before committing to any work; clearly explaining their role to clients and managing the expectations of others involved in the project; informing clients in a timely manner about any issues that may affect the cost, time, or quality of a project; and collaborating proactively with other professionals involved in the work.
- Respect: Architects are expected to be polite and considerate in their interactions; show a committed approach to equality, diversity, and inclusion, both in their design work and in their relationships with colleagues, employees, clients, and communities; contribute to a positive and inclusive working environment where unfair discrimination is not tolerated.
The regulator consulted on its draft code and standards last year and reported that each of the proposed standards received strong support, with 'honesty and integrity' coming out top with 89% approval.
ARB is also publishing supporting guidance on specific topics in tranches during the year (after consulting on draft versions), which architects will find instructive.
The first tranche, now published, covers:
Tranche two, in draft but where consultation has now closed:
A third tranche will be published for consultation later this year (2025) and will cover: Building safety; Equality, diversity and inclusion; Leadership; Mentoring; Sustainability (review and update of existing guidance).
How does ARB's code work with RIBA's standards?
ARB’s six standards move its updated Code closer to the three principle-structure already adopted by RIBA in its own Code of Professional Conduct (Integrity, Competence and Relationships), says Dr Kristy MacDonald, RIBA Director of Professional Standards.
“The headline statements included in each of the six new ARB standards align very much with the requirements set out in the RIBA Code of Professional Conduct,” she says. “RIBA members should feel reassured that there is no conflict between ARB and RIBA in respect of their professional obligations.”
However, RIBA has additional professional obligations when it comes to replacing an architect on a contract, as well as specific requirements in respect of copyright that do not feature in the ARB code, she adds.
RIBA members can be subject to dual complaint procedures when a complaint is made to RIBA and ARB. Kristy explains that when a complaint is made to both RIBA and ARB concerning a member’s conduct, RIBA will normally pause its investigation until the statutory regulator’ investigation has concluded.
In any case, in the event that a RIBA member is found guilty of Unacceptable Professional Conduct (UPC) and/or Serious Professional Incompetence (SPI) by the ARB, they must inform RIBA Professional Standards within 30 days of the ARB decision. If they do not, they will be in breach of Principle 1: Duty 7.4 of the RIBA Code of Conduct.
The ARB Code of Conduct refers to individual registered Architects, many of whom will also be Chartered RIBA Members, and therefore there will be an interplay between complaints made to ARB and/or to RIBA against individuals who are RIBA Chartered Architects and registered Architects.
Kristy points out that none of this applies if a complaint is made to RIBA against a Chartered Practice, because it is subject to the separate RIBA Code of Practice. Because practices do not fall under the jurisdiction of ARB, there can be no interplay between two complaints procedures.
Text by Neal Morris. This is a Professional Feature edited by the RIBA Practice team. Send us your feedback and ideas
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