Yesterday at the RIBA, Carolyn in her role as President of the Royal Society of Architects in Wales met with the other four presidents of the architecture institutes of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to make a commitment to drive forward five shared principles to strengthen and safeguard the future of the profession as follows:-
We, the five Presidents of the Architecture Institutes of England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, have come together to critically examine and reassert the role and value of architects in serving clients and society.
We commit to:
Place the public interest and value to society at the heart of all we do For the long-term good of society and the built environment we will promote the highest ethical standards and ensure our codes of conduct are continually strengthened, shared amongst other professions and rigorously upheld.Be accountable, and the Gold Standard Our members’ unique ability to understand complex and competing construction criteria and to lead in the design, delivery, management and mitigation of risk in the built environment will ensure that the quality of service we provide is of the highest standard. We will protect the public through being accountable for the work we undertake, and by certifying the quality and safety of the places we design and deliver. We will furnish value to the public through the maintenance of standards within architectural education and by promoting business skills, project management, development finance expertise, building construction, technological innovation and other expertise.Reflect the diversity of the population in our workforce We cannot expect to meet the needs and aspirations of a diverse, inclusive and progressive society unless our workforce reflects its diversity. We will reach out to draw in diverse contributors and create conditions in teaching and practice to enable people from all backgrounds and genders to contribute and prosper on an equal footing. We will ensure that our Institutes are at the forefront of these efforts by adopting reforms and policies that promote diversity and inclusion within our own business practices and taking decisive action when issues arise within the profession.Research, build and share essential knowledge We will develop and disseminate the body of knowledge embedded within the profession to policy makers, members, clients and society in the form of advice, research, knowledge, and experience. We will collaborate, broker and aggregate research and we will communicate, deploy and disseminate our findings to support creativity and innovation in the built environment. We will promote architecture as an economic and cultural asset, reflective of society and vital to its sustainability.Lead our profession in the fight for a more sustainable built environment Humans are using up the world’s dwindling physical resources at an ever-increasing rate. The unrelenting development of the built environment is a major contributor to this and to the pollution of our air, earth and water. We have the expertise and outlook to help lead clients and society to create a sustainable built environment. We will place the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as a key guiding principle in all we do, especially UNSDG11, setting an equal right for all to affordable high-quality places to live. We will strive for sustainable design, biodiversity, the conservation of finite resources and the avoidance of polluting activity in the projects we undertake.
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