In 2022 ARB embarked upon an ambitious new five-year strategy to improve the way it regulates.
Research and feedback from architects has informed a major programme of work to modernise the initial education and training of architects.
ARB is also transforming the way architects access its services online, and developing a new proportionate CPD model.
One year into its corporate strategy, strong progress is being made. ARB remains committed to working with the profession to deliver the essential improvements detailed in the strategy. To help fund this continued work, the retention fee for 2023 has been set at £179. Architects will be able to pay the fee from Monday 24 October 2022.
Alan Kershaw, Chair of the ARB Board, said: “To set this year’s fee the Board has had to balance the need for vital investment in ARB’s strategy with rising costs and economic challenges that are affecting every business and every household in the UK. ARB is a small and efficient organisation, with fewer than 50 full time staff. We understand that any increase will be unwelcome at this time of increases in cost of living. ARB’s retention fee remains one of the lowest amongst UK professional regulators.”
Stephen McCusker, ARB Board Member, said: “Like many architects on the UK register, I have run a small architectural practice and am ever-mindful of the challenges involved. In setting the 2023 fee, the Board has considered the cost of living increases faced by everyone in the country alongside the need to modernise ARB. The objectives in ARB’s strategy remain crucial. I’m especially keen that ARB continues its work to update an educational model that is over 50 years old with a new model that could encourage innovation and improve access to the profession.”
The retention fee is set annually by the ARB Board based on ARB’s strategic objectives and annual business plan. As ARB continues to deliver its strategy, the Board will endeavour to keep the retention fee as low as possible. ARB is planning the upgrade to its information systems carefully with the aim that future years will not require the same scale of increased investment in IT transformation.
