Hong Kong Builder
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THE REGISTRATION OF ARCHITECTS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. By Geo. W. Grey, F.R.I.B.A., F.S.I.
The Architects Registration Bill 1938, which was first read in the House of Lords, has passed the House of Commons and received the Royal assent.
This Act affects Colonial architects, should they wish to return to the United Kingdom, as now the Bill is law, they can no longer, in the United Kingdom, call themselves architects unless they fulfill certain conditions satisfactory to a Registration Council and register and pay an annual fee.
The first Bill, in the United Kingdom, for the registration of Architects was the Architects (Registra- tion) Act of 1931.
Under this Act, overseas architects could not register solely on the grounds that they were practising architects, the Act stating "had been practising in the United Kingdom," in fact, applications from architects who had practised for years in Crown Colonies were turned down.
The 1938 Act treats the overseas architect with more consideration, "His Majesty's Dominions" having been added by amendment, placing the overseas architect in the same position as the "Home" architect.
The 1931 Bill did nothing but enable a Registration Council to be set up and, providing a candidate fulfilled certain conditions, register him upon payment of an annual fee, after which he could describe himself as a "Registered Architect."
It did not forbid anyone describing themselves as an “Architect,” or forbid anyone from designing build- ings and accepting a fee for the work, or depositing plans with a local Authority.
The 1938 Act has done no more, except that, subject to the provisions of the measure, a person shall not practise or carry on business under any name, style, or title, containing the word architect, unless he is a person registered under the principal Act.
This amounts to only that the term registered architect as laid down in the Act of 1931 is now replaced by the one word "architect" under the 1938 Act.
There are excluded from the Bill, naval architects, landscape architects and golf-course architects, and an exception is made to Members of the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Institution of Structural Engineers, the Chartered Surveyors' Institution, and the Institution of Municipal and County Engineers, where a member of one of those bodies is in the service of a local authority and is responsible for the management or control of the architectural work of the local authority, he then being entitled to use the word architect, provided that one of the local authority's servants engaged in architec- ture is a person registered under the Act.
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Presumably there is nothing in the Architects Registration Act 1938 to prevent a person using the letters F.R.I.B.A., or A.R.I.B.A., but not the words Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, or Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects, or Chartered Architect, as there was drafting amendment agreed to which reads: "Subject to the provisions of this Act, a person shall not practise or carry on business under any
name, style, or title, containing the word "architect" unless he is a person registered under the principal Act," but it is claimed by G. B. J. Athoe, Secretary to the Incorporated Associa- tion of Architects and Surveyors, that the 1938 Act would permit anyone to set up in practice as architect, and use the title "architect," by the simple subterfuge of employing an assistant who had obtained registration, and a registered architect struck off the Register for "disgraceful conduct" could continue to practise by a like subterfuge.
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Under the 1938 Act, the period of time under which practising architects may apply for registration has been extended until the first of August, 1940, after which time no person may be registered unless he qualifies by passing an approved examination.
The constitution of the Registration Council for the year ending March, 1939, is given as:-
Fourteen members appointed by the Council of the R.I.B.A.
Three members appointed by the Council of the I.A.A.S.
Two members appointed by the Council of the Faculty of Architects & Surveyors.
A.A.
Four members appointed by the Council of the
One member appointed by the Council of the A.A.S.T.A.
Three members appointed by the Councils of Provincial Associations.
Six members elected by "Unattached" Architects. One person by each of the following:- The Royal Society of Ulster Architects, The President of the Board of Education, The Minister of Health,
The Commissioner of Works,
The Department of Health for Scotland, The Governor of Northern Ireland, The Chartered Surveyors' Institution, The Institution of Structural Engineers, The Institution of Muncipal and County
Engineers,
The Society of Engineers, The Institute of Builders, The National Federation of Building Trades Employers,
The National Federation of Building Trades Operatives.
The Registrar of the Architects' Registration Council of the United Kingdom, 68 Portland Place, W.I., in a letter to the Press states:-
"Under Section 2 of the Act, any person making application to the Council before August 1, 1940, in the manner prescribed by the Regulations of the Council, will be entitled to be registered if he proves to the satisfaction of the Council on a report of the Admission Committee that on July 29, 1938, he was, or had been, practising as an architect in the United Kingdom or some other part of His Majesty's Dominions.”
The Registrar's letter continues, "to give effect to the Act, regulations will be drawn up by the Architects' Registration Council and submitted for approval to the Until that approval has Privy Council in due course. been obtained it will not be possible for the Council to consider any applications for registration under Section 2 of the Act nor to provide applicants for registration with the necessary forms.
There has been a proviso added to the 1938 Bill giving to any person refused admission to the Register a right of appeal to a Tribunal, no member of the Architects' Registration Council being eligible for membership of this Tribunal.
Registration brought into existence, besides other institutions, the Institute of Registered Architects, who have offices at 12 to 15 Dartmouth Street, London, S.W.1., and this Institute has issued a letter to all "unattached" Registered Architects suggesting that their interest would be best served by joining the Institute of Registered Architects.