Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

Architects must undertake Continuing Professional Development (CPD) every year to maintain their professional title. CPD supports architects in maintaining and developing the knowledge, skills, and professional behaviours required to practise competently throughout their careers. It can include both formal learning (seminars and webinars) and informal learning (reading, research, and reflection on lessons learned in practice). Effective CPD enables architects to respond to new challenges, maintain professional competence, and protect the public by ensuring continued trust in the title Architect. Under the Building Safety Act 2022, the Architects Registration Board (ARB) now has a statutory responsibility to monitor architects’ ongoing competence.

CPD is widely recognised as essential. Historically, however, the ARB did not require architects to formally record CPD or undergo ongoing competence checks, instead encouraging professionals to self-regulate their learning. While many architects took this responsibility seriously, the absence of mandatory requirements allowed others to disengage, unless they were members of RIBA, which imposed its own CPD obligations. Following the Grenfell Tower tragedy and the introduction of the Building Safety Act, the ARB was given responsibility to enforce a mandatory CPD scheme. The current scheme does not specify a minimum number of hours but requires coverage of Fire and Life Safety and Environmental Sustainability.

I am naturally curious and enjoy learning, so CPD occurs organically for me throughout the year. I believe this is true for many architects, who regularly develop their knowledge without formally recording it or recognising it as CPD. For many practitioners, interaction with the ARB is largely limited to the annual registration fee, which can make CPD feel disconnected from everyday practice. Greater direction on priority topics would help ensure consistency and strengthen public safety.

I believe the ARB, in partnership with the profession, could go further by introducing four mandatory full-day formal CPD training sessions per year, held quarterly and required for all architects. Rather than leaving topic selection entirely to individual judgement, these sessions would ensure that critical and up-to-date knowledge is delivered consistently across the profession. Core topics could include Building Regulations, Fire Safety, High-Risk Buildings, Planning Policy, Accessibility, and Sustainability, with the ARB identifying annually the most critical areas of change in policy depending what is most pressing in the industry.

These quarterly sessions would create a regular connection and feedback loop between architects and the regulator, addressing a gap that currently exists. Hosting sessions at universities across the UK, with potential support from trade and manufacturer partners, could reduce or eliminate any costs. If included within the ARB registration fee, this approach would provide clear value for money, strengthen engagement with the wider industry, and establish a robust and proactive system of learning that better protects the public than reliance on individual judgement and retrospective review/policing of CPD records by ARB on if enough hours have been undertaken or recorded adequately. Let’s get organised as an industry and take our CPD seriously by raising the standard within the built environment by bringing all architects to a consistent level of knowledge/learning each year.

Sources:

1. https://arb.org.uk/architect-information/cpd/