The UK Government is currently consulting on its forthcoming strategy for industry professions, trades and occupations, which is due for publication in 2027. 

While the consultation focuses primarily on England, its outcomes will have significant implications for architects and other built environment professions working across the UK.

Responding, therefore, in the interests of Scottish architects, the RIAS said it believes that reform should focus on strengthening those public interest functions that repeated reviews – including the 2016 Edinburgh Schools Inquiry and the more recent Grenfell Inquiry and the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry – had identified as essential to building quality, safety and regulatory compliance.

For the RIAS, protecting and recognising critical functions related to design leadership, design integration, quality assurance, compliance management and independent professional challenge is an overarching priority.

The consultation also coincides with the establishment of a working group, led by the Architects Registration Board (ARB) and including RIAS representatives, to examine the regulation of professional activity across the built environment.

With both workstreams, the RIAS seeks to engage constructively with the UK Government and is endeavouring to represent the best interests of architects working in Scotland, and to ensure that any proposals for reform take devolution properly into account.

Available in full here, the RIAS response makes the following five key points:

1. Address fragmentation: the construction sector has become overly fragmented, eroding critical integration and oversight functions traditionally held by professionals like architects to those whose instincts and interests are in shortcuts. This compromises quality, safety and accountability, which in turn damages the economy.
2. Focus on the public interest: future strategies should prioritise strengthening public-interest functions such as design leadership, coordination, and technical integration. Placing equal importance on design leadership and project leadership is key to addressing this, and it is also essential that clients and commissioning bodies understand their critical role in safeguarding the long-term public interest.
3. Collaborative reform: the RIAS advocates for reforms that recognise and reinforce the functions traditionally held by architects, including retaining regulatory frameworks, registration systems and shared standards set by professional bodies. Protection of title alone has not ensured responsibility or accountability: instead, the focus should be on ensuring that professionals exercising critical roles demonstrate the necessary competence, experience, and accountability.
4. Cross-profession accountability: the RIAS believes the key is to develop a system where critical functions are clearly defined, resourced, and exercised by competent professionals across the UK, while respecting devolved regulatory approaches. This requires collaboration among government, regulators, clients and built environment professions alongside excellent design and project leadership.
5. Procurement reform: quality-based selection, fair fees, prompt payment, proportionate liability, SME-accessible frameworks and whole-life value assessment are critical to sustaining professional practice and delivering a circular economy.

Libby Heathcote PRIAS, president of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland, said: “The UK Government’s parallel reviews of built environment strategy and professional regulation could have profound implications for the design and procurement of buildings for years to come, and it is therefore vital that the RIAS makes sure that its voice is heard loud and clear. From Edinburgh Schools to Grenfell, there have been numerous reviews into why things have gone wrong, and this is a critical opportunity to start getting things right.

“The RIAS is engaging constructively and responsibly with the UK Government, to ensure that the interests of Scottish architects as well as the wider public interest are properly understood. Issues including protection of function and procurement are key, and any future reforms will need to work within the UK’s devolution framework.

“We are very pleased that the UK Government has actively sought the RIAS’s input, and we look forward to working with UK Government ministers and officials, as well as fellow stakeholders, to make the most of this important opportunity for meaningful change.”