The "A" Word

An update from CIAT's Technical Standards Taskforce on their recent work surrounding the word "Architect" and its relationship with Architectural Technology professionals.

The relationship between Architectural Technology professionals and the word "Architect" is an interesting one. As members and affiliates will know, the term "Architect" is a protected title within the UK via the Architects Act:

A person shall not practise or carry on business under any name, style or title containing the word "architect" unless he is a [ARB] registered person

Members and affiliates should therefore be aware that any misuse of the word "architect" (i.e. those who are not on the register of architects) would be unlawful.

However, outside of the UK, "architect" is not restricted by statute and is often used generically as a descriptive term to describe the function performed. For example, within Standards, such as ISO 6707-2, an international standard for construction vocabulary, it defines an architect as:

architect
person who designs buildings and superintends the carrying out of building works
Note 1 to entry: In certain countries, there are limitations on the use of the title "architect"

This means that, for some standards which have been adopted by BSI within the UK, there are references to "architect" which are intended to extend beyond the limitations of UK regulation.

To help clarify this, Gareth Sewell FCIAT and Dan Rossiter FCIAT, Vice-President Technical met with representatives from RIBA and BSI to agree a foreword that can be used on such standards. This foreword states:

The UK committee notes that this standard uses the term 'architect' to mean 'person who designs buildings and superintends the carrying out of building works', as defined in Subclause 3.8.24 of BS ISO 6707-2:2017  Buildings and civil engineering works — Vocabulary — Part 2: Contract and communication terms, and advises users that this includes professionals beyond those protected by the Architects Act. As such, professionals such as chartered architectural technologists are covered by the term 'architect' in this standard.

To date, the term "Architect" has only been identified within informative parts of a standard such as its examples. However, it is hoped that having a pre-agreed foreword will reduce any ambiguity around the intention behind the use of the term within international and European standards that BSI adopt.

As such we hope that this will empower members to:

• use British Standard which use the term "architect" without concern;
• highlight these facts should a challenge occur; and 
• inform the Technical Department at CIAT ([email protected]) should you identify a British Standard which does use the term "Architect" without this foreword in place. 

As the global membership qualifying body for Architectural Technology, with Chartered Architectural Technologists able to undertake the design and management of all project types, we are keen to ensure that national good practice accurately reflects our ability to perform these functions.

Note: Since publication, this article has been updated to clarify that misuse of the word "architect" would be unlawful by members and affiliates who are not on the register of architects.