Grenfell inquiry has shone a light on architecture profession’s flaws

Oliver Wainwright’s article about the Grenfell Tower inquiry report was spot-on (‘Professional buck-passers’: why the excoriating Grenfell report was right to damn architects, 5 September). He could also have added that the Royal Institute of British Architects’ complacency on continuing professional development (CPD) has been another factor. On the point about architects being expected to learn about the technical aspects of their profession on the job, it does not only apply to students.
The RIBA advises clients that the main benefit of appointing its members (who are called chartered architects by virtue of being members and seen as a cut above the rest) is that they are subject to CPD.
But in my last meeting on the RIBA council, when I asked how many architects the RIBA had ever sanctioned for failing to undertake CPD, I was surprised when the answer was “none”. Equally shocking was the evident failure by the executive team and fellow council members to share my concern that this was something that the RIBA – a charity that exists to advance the science of architecture for the benefit of the public – needed to address.Kerr Robertson Former honorary secretary and interim chair, RIBA board of trustees
Re Oliver Wainwright’s comparison of doctors and architects, it’s worth considering how the two professions are paid: the former has regulated pay scales, the latter is fee-based, via competitive tendering. Fees for architectural services were once regulated through mandatory scales set by the RIBA. Then, in the 1980s, competitive fee tendering was introduced along with new forms of construction contracts, intended to place employers closer to the market. Fee scales became advisory and later abolished. For decades now, architects have been chasing fees in a race to the bottom. As a client, I’ve repeatedly seen absurdly low fee bids from architects, and how frameworks confuse “best value” with “cheapest”.
Of course, it’s affected the profession. Maybe it’s time to rethink whether a race to the bottom on fees is indeed the way to procure professional services. Catherine BrownellLondon