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Open consultations

  • Changes to the Prescribed Examination

    About ARB The Architects Registration Board regulates the architects’ profession in the United Kingdom. We set the standards of competence required to gain entry to the Register of Architects. Why we are proposing a revised examination The Architects Act 1997 allows...

    Closes 16 September 2026

  • Architects Engagement Group registration

    Every year, the architect’s profession faces new challenges and opportunities. As the professional regulator, ARB needs to understand those changes and respond to them. It is vital that we hear from architects to help us develop new approaches to how we regulate. By signing up to join...

    Closes 3 April 2034

  • Architectural Education Engagement Network

    The Architects Registration Board (ARB) is an independent professional regulator, established by Parliament as a statutory body, through the Architects Act, in 1997. One of the core functions given to us in law is to ensure only those who are suitably competent are allowed to practise as...

    Closes 30 April 2035

Closed consultations

  • Consultation on draft guidance for the Architects Code of Conduct - Tranche three

    Professionalism lies at the heart of architectural practice, underpinning the trust placed in architects by clients, colleagues, and the wider public. Professionalism is about more than technical competence - it encompasses a commitment to ethical decision-making, accountability, and the...

    Closed 14 May 2026

  • Consultation on new Investigations Rules

    ARB is an independent professional regulator, established by Parliament as a statutory body, through the Architects Act. The law gives us a number of core functions. These include setting the standards of conduct and practice the profession must meet and taking action when any architect falls below...

    Closed 12 May 2026

  • Improvements to professional practical experience

    We are consulting on improvements to professional practical experience. The package of changes we are proposing includes: Changes to ARB’s Standards for learning providers and Accreditation Handbook, to introduce a coordinating role for learning providers and...

    Closed 15 April 2026

  • Consultation on new and improved routes to registration

    The UK Register of Architects exists to reassure the public that everyone on it is suitably qualified, fit to practise, and maintains their competence. One of ARB’s strategic aims is to improve access to the Register for competent professionals by simplifying our processes and removing unintended...

    Closed 2 February 2026

  • Consultation on draft guidance for the Architects Code of Conduct - Tranche two

    Background Professionalism lies at the heart of architectural practice, underpinning the trust placed in architects by clients, colleagues, and the wider public. Professionalism is about more than technical competence - it encompasses a commitment to ethical decision-making,...

    Closed 31 July 2025

We asked, you said, we did

See what we've consulted on. See all outcomes

We asked

ARB consulted on the five draft guidance notes between 2 April and 14 May 2026.

You said

We received 44 responses, including 18 from organisations. Thirty-two respondents were registered architects.

Overall, respondents supported the principle of issuing guidance in each area.

Agreement or strong agreement ranged from 50% for building safety to 61% for mentoring. However, the consultation also identified material concerns about proportionality, legal precision, the practical limits of an architect’s control, and the risk of guidance becoming excessively detailed or prescriptive.

The qualitative feedback was detailed and from expert stakeholders, and has been useful in strengthening the final documents.

We did

The guidance has been finalised and published on ARB's website.

We have also published a resources webpage, which provides relevant legislation, statutory guidance and recognised industry resources in one place to help architects understand and apply the Code in practice.

We asked

We proposed the following package of improvements to professional practical experience:

  • Changes to ARB’s Standards for learning providers 
     
  • New guidance for employers and trainees
     
  • Minimum requirements for the new Trainee Record of Experience and topics for supplementary advice 
     
  • Changes to ARB’s Registration Rules 

You said

The consultation ran from 15 January 2026 to 15 April 2026 and received 87 unique responses. 

We received the highest level of support for our proposals to introduce guidance for trainees and employers (62% and 57% respectively). We also received support for our proposals on minimum requirements for a Trainee Record of Experience (48%).

Responses were primarily neutral for our proposals on updated Standards for Learning providers (25%) and updating our Registration Rules (28%). Within these responses, there were useful suggestions on how the proposals could improve to better implement our intention of trainee support while remaining achievable for Learning providers. We have considered this feedback and have updated our proposals following the consultation to reflect this feedback.

The consultation analysis report can be read here, and summarises the changes we have made in response to the consultation and engagement that we continued to undertake since.

We did

We have now published the finalised changes here. 

These changes implement the findings of the independent Professional Practical Experience (PPE) Commission established by ARB to examine professional practical experience, which reported after a year-long review in 2025. 

They also follow this consultation on proposed changes to ARB’s Standards for learning providers, guidance for employers and trainees, requirements for a new Trainee Record of Experience, and the Registration Rules governing practical experience. 

In response to the consultation, we have retained the overall framework and objectives of the proposals, while using the feedback to make changes to give providers greater flexibility.

We asked

The Code is supported with guidance for how architects can apply the Standards in more specific contexts and in relation to particular topics. Draft guidance is being published and consulted on in phases.

The first tranche of guidance covers the topics of Dealing with Complaints, Professional Indemnity Insurance and Terms of Engagement. Guidance for these topics was consulted on between 26 February and 09 April 2025 and is now published.

This second tranche of guidance covered topics of Managing Conflicts of Interest, Managing Finances, and Raising Concerns and Whistleblowing.

You said

The consultation was open for six weeks between 19 June and 31 July 2025. During that time, we received 11 responses.

There were some useful drafting suggestions for how the guidance could be improved, including adding further information on when architects should report themselves to ARB (within the Raising Concerns guidance) and providing specific examples of how conflicts of interest should be manged. 

There were no fundamental objections to any of the content in the guidance.

We did

The finalised guidance has been published and can be accessed here:

https://arb.org.uk/architect-information/architects-code-standards-of-conduct-and-practice/