Standards for the Architectural Free Market

The UIA Accord on Recommended International Standards of Professionalism in Architectural Practice and Related Guidelines

UIA 2005

XXII World Congress

Istanbul, Turkey

UIA Accord on Recommended International Standards of Professionalism in Architectural Practice

• Advisory

• Standards that serve community

• Best practice

• Aspirational

Adopted by UIA Assembly in 1999

Architects have a duty of care to the communities they serve.

UIA Accord

• Statement of Principles of Professionalism

• Sixteen Policy Issues

Practice of Architecture

• Rendering professional services in connection with town planning and the design, construction, enlargement, conservation, restoration, or alteration of a building or group of buildings.

The Architect

• Person who is professionally qualified and registered to practice and responsible for advocating fair and sustainable development, welfare, and cultural expression of the society’s habitat in terms of space form and historical context.

Fundamental Requirements of an Architect

• The knowledge, skills, and abilities that must be mastered through education, training, and experience to be considered qualified to practice.

Education

• No less than 5 years principally on full-time basis in accredited architectural program in an accredited university while allowing flexibility for equivalency.

Accreditation/Validation/
Recognition

• Education courses should be accredited by an independent authority external to the university at 5 year intervals

Practical Experience/Training/ Internship

• Graduates of architecture should be required to compete at least 2 years of acceptable experience prior to registration to practice architecture.

Demonstration of Professional Knowledge & Ability

• The acquired knowledge and ability of an architect have to be proven by providing adequate evidence including the successful competition of at least one examination at the end of the internship period.

Registration/Licensing/ Certification

• The UIA promotes the registration, licensing or certification of architects in all countries by statute.

Procurement

• Governments should apply suitable procurement procedures to appointment of architects by:

– Architectural design competitions based on UIA/UNESCO guidelines

– Qualification based selection procedure

– Direct negotiation based on complete brief

Ethics and Conduct

• Members sections of UIA are encouraged to introduce into their own codes of ethics a requirement that their members abide by the codes of ethics and conduct in force in the countries and jurisdictions in which they provide services.

Continuing Professional Development

• UIA member sections should advocate continuing professional development as a duty of the profession, in the public interest.

Scope of Practice

• UIA encourages and promotes extension of boundaries of architectural practice and strives to ensure corresponding extension of knowledge and skills required.

Form of Practice

• Architects should be allowed to practice in any form legally acceptable in the country in which the service is offered.

Practice in a Host Nation

• Architects providing substantial architectural services in a country in which they are not registered shall collaborate with a local architect to ensure proper understanding of legal, environmental, social, and heritage factors.

Intellectual Property/Copyright

• National law of member sections should entitle architects to practice their profession without detriment to their authority and responsibility and to retain ownership of the intellectual property and copyright of their work.

Role of Professional Bodies

• In countries where professional institutes do not exist members of the architectural profession are encouraged to form such institutes in the public interest.

Building Project Delivery Systems

• Architects should maintain high standards of professionalism and service under all forms of building project delivery systems.

Accord & Policy Guidelines are living documents subject to review and modification

Development of Accord Policy Guidelines

• Drafting panels develop guidelines for Accord policy issues

Approved Guidelines

• Accreditation

• Practical Experience

• Demonstration of Professional Knowledge

• Registration

• Procurement

• Ethics & Conduct

• Professional Development

• Practice in a Host Nation

• Intellectual Property & Copyright

• Scope of Practice

• Form of Practice

• Building Delivery Systems

• Role of Professional Bodies

Guidelines on Accreditation / Validation / Recognition

• Criteria for accreditation of courses

• Methods of accreditation

• Procedures for accreditation of programs in architecture

• Documents and visiting methods, and

• Reporting procedures

Guidelines on Practical Experience / Training / Internship

• Acquire knowledge & skill in practice of architecture

• Ensure practices, activities, and experience is recorded

• Enable interns to attain broad experience in practice of architecture

Guidelines on Practical Experience / Training / Internship: Activity Categories

• Project & Office Management

• Design & Design Documentation

• Construction Documents, and

• Contract Administration

Guidelines on Demonstration of Professional Knowledge & Ability

• Assessment of acquired knowledge and ability of a candidate for recognition as an architect.

Guidelines for Registration / Licensing / Certification

• In the public interest, no person should be permitted to use the title architect or practice architecture unless registered under the registration statute.

Recommendations of Registration / Licensing / Certification Guidelines

• Regulation of conduct

• Qualification criteria

• Reciprocity procedures

• Control of corporate entities

• Engagement of architect during construction of a project

• Prosecution of unregistered persons

Guidelines on Procurement

• A Guide to Qualification Based Selection of Architects: A Key to Quality

Slide 32

Guidelines on Ethics & Conduct

• Address responsibilities to:

Public

Client and users

Profession

Colleagues

– Art & Science of Architecture

Guidelines for Continuing Professional Development

• Continuing professional development is the responsibility of every architect.

Guidelines on Practice in a Host Nation

• Protocol on appropriate mechanisms for recognizing practice by foreign architects

• Policy framework for negotiation of agreements under which local and foreign architects collaborate

Practice in a Host Nation Guidelines

• Provide that:

– Arrangements affecting business issues should be formalized in agreements among the parties

– Public liability, statutes, & laws are the responsibility of both architects

Guidelines on Intellectual Property & Copyright

• Protect the intellectual property and copyright of architects in their works

Guidelines on Scope of Practice

• Project Management

• Research and planning

• Construction Cost Control

• Design

• Construction Procurement or Delivery Systems

• Contract Administration

• Maintenance and Operation Planning

Guidelines on Form of Practice

• forms of practice which, in the public interest, enable the maintenance of acceptable standards of architectural practice

• ownership, control and liability of practices

• major and specialised forms of practice.

Guidelines on Building Delivery Systems

• Increasingly building delivery systems are being used that significantly change the traditional role of the architect

Traditional

• Construction management

• Design and construction

• Multi- party or relationship contracts

Guidelines on the Role of Professional Bodies

• the function and role of professional architectural bodies

• the interests of consumers, the public and the profession

• defines the roles and governance arrangements for both professional and regulatory bodies