Safety, innovation and diversity in building design

CIAT position on Professional Regulation and Protection of Function

The Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists (CIAT) is committed to promoting a diverse and competitive building design sector, in which the highest standards of professionalism are upheld, delivering better outcomes for clients, building users and society.

Following the tragic Grenfell Tower Fire, and the completion of the associated public inquiry, there have been calls from some quarters for the regulation of built environment professions and professional bodies as well as for “protection of function”. In view of this, CIAT has felt it appropriate to develop a functional model for professional regulation, which could be pursued if the current model of self-regulation by professional bodies is found to be inadequate to deliver the outcomes that we all want to see.

This model, outlined in a new policy position paper, Safety Innovation and Diversity in Building Design, which has been approved by CIAT’s Executive Board, would focus on regulation of specific functions defined in regulation, such as Principal Designer (building regulations), and might entail:

• Defining competency requirements to fulfil regulated roles (for example through a British Standard).
• Requiring membership of an appropriate register, aligned to the framework provided by the standard. (It would be essential that membership of a register was open to all competent professionals, regardless of wider professional registrations or memberships.)
• Specifying mechanisms such as revalidation to demonstrate ongoing competence to fulfil a defined role.

It should be noted that CIAT is not actively promoting such a regulatory change. Rather, the Institute is seeking to ensure that, if there is sufficient, robust evidence of the need for further regulation of the professions by Government, this can be implemented in a way which maintains the diverse, competitive sector we see today.

Safety, innovation and diversity in building design External position – approved by Executive Board, 6 June 2025

This article appears in the CIAT news and resources library as "Safety, innovation and diversity in building design" dated 8 October, 2025.

--CIAT

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