ARB Architects Code 2025
Architects Code: Standards of Professional Conduct and Practice 2025. Architects Registration Board, effective 1 April 2025.
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Why This Matters for Part 3
The ARB Code 2025 underpins all professional conduct questions in Part 3. Examiners test: the 6-standard structure; the relationship between ARB (statutory regulator) and RIBA (professional membership body); the PII obligation; the competence standard; and scenarios where commercial pressure conflicts with professional obligations.
The ARB Architects Code 2025 replaced the 2017 Code with effect from 1 April 2025. The 2025 Code restructures the conduct obligations into 6 clearly defined Standards (reduced from 12 in the 2017 Code). Every registered architect in the UK is bound by the Code as a condition of ARB registration. Breach can lead to reprimand, conditional registration, or erasure. The Code applies to all architectural work, whether or not the architect is acting in their professional capacity. Key changes from 2017: more explicit competence obligations linked to BSA 2022; stronger CPD requirements; expanded guidance on PII; and clearer handling of conflicts of interest.
The ARB and Its Role
ARB vs RIBA: the distinction
Architects Act 1997; ARB Code 2025 Introduction
The ARB is the statutory regulator for architects in the UK, established under the Architects Act 1997. Registration with the ARB is required to use the title 'Architect'. RIBA is a separate professional membership body, and membership is voluntary. Non-members can still practise as architects (if ARB-registered). The ARB Code sets minimum conduct standards; RIBA's Code of Professional Conduct sets membership standards which may be more demanding. An architect can be in breach of one Code but not the other.
Common oral exam trap: 'Can someone practise as an architect without being a RIBA member?' Yes. RIBA membership is voluntary. ARB registration is the legal requirement. Always distinguish the two bodies and their separate enforcement powers.
Who is bound by the Code
ARB Code 2025: Scope
All architects registered with the ARB must comply with the Code. The Code applies to all professional conduct and practice, including conduct outside formal architectural work that may reflect on the profession. An architect cannot escape the Code by acting in a personal capacity. If the conduct brings the profession into disrepute, it is within the Code's scope.
Standard 1: Competence
Core Obligation
ARB Code 2025 Standard 1
Architects must only undertake work for which they are competent. Competence means having the knowledge, skill, and experience to perform the work to the required standard. The 2025 Code explicitly links competence to the Building Safety Act 2022 competence framework for higher-risk buildings. Architects working on HRBs must demonstrate the specific competencies required by BSA.
When advising on whether to accept a commission: if you lack competence in any area relevant to the project, you must either decline, engage a competent specialist, or obtain the competence through CPD before proceeding. The obligation is proactive, not retrospective.
Continuing Professional Development
ARB Code 2025 Standard 1; RIBA CPD Core Curriculum
The 2025 Code introduces a more explicit CPD obligation. Architects must maintain and develop their competence through CPD appropriate to the work they undertake. The RIBA CPD Core Curriculum (which aligns with ARB expectations) requires 35 hours of CPD per year, of which 20 hours should be structured learning. For architects working on higher-risk buildings, additional sector-specific CPD is required.
Standard 2: Honesty and Integrity
Core Obligation
ARB Code 2025 Standard 2
Architects must act with honesty and integrity in all their professional dealings. This includes: not making false or misleading statements; not suppressing information that should be disclosed; acting in the public interest where this conflicts with client interest; and not allowing commercial pressure to distort professional judgement.
Key scenarios tested: (1) client pressures you to omit a structural deficiency from a report: you must disclose. (2) You have made an error that affects the project: you must tell the client promptly and not conceal it.
Public Interest
ARB Code 2025 Standard 2
Architects have a duty to act in the public interest, which may sometimes conflict with the client's immediate commercial interest. The Code makes clear that the public interest obligation can override client instructions. The most common examples: structural safety, fire safety, planning breaches that affect neighbouring properties.
Standard 3: Relationships with Clients
Client Care
ARB Code 2025 Standard 3
Architects must establish and maintain a clear and professional relationship with clients. This includes: providing clear information about services, fees, and processes before commencing work; maintaining records of instructions received and decisions made; keeping clients informed of progress; and responding to client concerns promptly.
Written Appointment
ARB Code 2025 Standard 3
Before commencing work, architects must agree the terms of appointment in writing. This is a Code obligation, not merely good practice. A verbal appointment is a breach of Standard 3. The written appointment must cover at minimum: scope of services, fee basis, and what happens if the appointment is terminated. The RIBA PSC 2020 forms provide a compliant appointment structure.
Conflicts of Interest
ARB Code 2025 Standard 3
Architects must avoid conflicts of interest, or if they cannot, must disclose all conflicts to all affected parties and obtain their informed consent to continue. A conflict exists when the architect's personal or financial interest could impair their ability to provide impartial professional advice. Common conflicts: acting for both parties in a negotiation; referring clients to service providers in which the architect has a financial interest.
Standard 4: Conduct and Professional Behaviour
Core Obligation
ARB Code 2025 Standard 4
Architects must conduct themselves in a professional manner at all times. This includes: not engaging in conduct likely to bring the profession into disrepute; treating all people with respect; not harassing, bullying, or discriminating; and not making unsubstantiated allegations against other professionals.
Complaints Handling
ARB Code 2025 Standard 4
Architects must have a complaints procedure in place, tell clients about it at the start of the appointment, and operate it fairly and efficiently. Complaints must be acknowledged promptly. The architect must not attempt to prevent clients from exercising their right to complain to the ARB or to seek independent advice.
Standard 5: Business Practices
Business Structures
ARB Code 2025 Standard 5
Architects practising through a company or LLP must ensure the business structure does not prevent them from meeting their Code obligations. The architect remains personally responsible for Code compliance regardless of business structure. If practising through a limited company, the architect is responsible for ensuring the company has appropriate PII and that the company's conduct meets Code standards.
Subcontracting and Delegation
ARB Code 2025 Standard 5
Architects may delegate or subcontract work, but remain responsible for the quality of delegated work and for ensuring those working under their supervision are competent. This is particularly relevant for junior architects and technicians. The responsible architect cannot escape Code liability by pointing to a junior's error if they failed to supervise adequately.
Standard 6: Professional Indemnity Insurance
PII Obligation
ARB Code 2025 Standard 6 (formerly Standard 7 in 2017 Code)
Architects must have in force professional indemnity insurance that is adequate for the work they undertake. The minimum level of cover is not specified in the Code; it depends on the nature and value of the work. Architects must notify their insurer of potential claims promptly and must not act in breach of their policy conditions (e.g., by accepting liability caps below the policy excess, or by admitting liability without insurer consent).
Note: in the 2025 Code, PII is Standard 6 (it was Standard 7 in the 2017 Code). Examiners may test whether you know this has changed. Always state the 2025 Code number if answering after April 2025.
Run-off Cover
ARB Code 2025 Standard 6
When an architect retires or ceases practice, they must maintain 'run-off' PII cover for the relevant limitation periods: 6 years for contracts executed as a simple contract; 12 years for contracts executed as a deed. Without run-off cover, claims arising from past work would be uninsured. The 2025 Code explicitly addresses the responsibility to maintain run-off cover on retirement.
Commercial pressure vs. professional obligation: the undisclosed structural deficiency
Scenario
You are an architect on a residential development for a repeat client. During Stage 4 coordination you identify that the structural engineer's specification for the ground floor slab is insufficient for the loadings that will be imposed by the client's intended fit-out (a heavy-use commercial kitchen). The SE disagrees with your assessment and says the slab is fine. The client, who has a fixed completion date to open a restaurant, instructs you not to raise the issue 'officially' as it will delay the programme. The client says: 'We've worked together for years, trust me on this one.'
Analysis
ARB Code 2025 Standard 2 (Honesty and Integrity) requires you to act in the public interest. The structural concern, if valid, is a life-safety issue for the building's users. Standard 2 does not allow the client's commercial interests or the personal relationship to override this obligation. Standard 1 (Competence) requires that if you have a genuine professional concern about structural adequacy, you cannot simply defer to the SE, particularly if the proposed use creates loads different from those in the SE's brief. Your options: (1) Commission an independent structural assessment. (2) Issue a formal written notice to the client documenting your concern, the SE's response, and the need for resolution before construction proceeds. (3) If the client insists on proceeding without resolution: consider whether you can continue the appointment without being in breach of your Code obligations.
Outcome
You issue a formal written notice to the client and the SE. The client is frustrated but acknowledges the concern in writing. An independent structural peer review confirms the slab specification is marginally compliant (the SE was correct) and the project proceeds. Your contemporaneous documentation protects your professional position. If the peer review had confirmed the deficiency, you would have been legally and professionally protected by having raised it. The client would not have been able to claim you concealed it.