Maintaining standards - facts and figures

Complaints

In 2015, 157 formal complaints were considered by the ARB. The number of complaints about architects has remained relatively steady over the last five years. Not all of these complaints were referred to the Investigations Pool; a number of them were either resolved under Standard 10 of the Code of Conduct, or were considered to be outside of ARB’s remit.

Investigations Panel

In 2015 the Investigations Panel issued 72 decisions, while in 2014, it issued 84.

Professional Conduct Committee

In 2015, the Professional Conduct Committee held 24 hearings and issued 25 decisions (one of the hearings was concerning two architects from the same practice).

Complaints – 2015 – facts and figures

No Further Action 10 (18)
Advice 32 (30)
Refer to the Professional Conduct Committee 30 (36)
Total number of decisions 72 (84)

Professional Conduct Committee

Reprimand 7 (8)
Penalty Order 8 (6)
Suspension 2 (5)
Erasure 4 (5)
Not Guilty 2 (7)
No Sanction 0 (0)
No Case to Answer 2 (0)
Total number of decisions 25 (31)

Misuse of title

In 2015 there were 239 investigations into misuse of the title ‘architect’ under Section 20 of the Architects Act. Nine of the investigations resulted in successful prosecutions, compared to two in 2014. The average fine imposed by the Magistrates’ Courts was £2,200 with an average of a further £1,920 being awarded to ARB in costs. 90% of cases met the target of 16 weeks for closure or referral to ARB’s solicitor. This is comparable to last year’s figure.

Of the investigations concluded in 2015, 24% of complaints originated from members of the public. The remainder originated from architects, professional bodies, or ARB initiating its own investigations.