Exam-style scenarios,
model answers
Scenario-based questions modelled on Part 3 Papers 1, 2, and 3 format. Full model answers and examiner guidance included with every scenario.
Questions and model answers were produced with the help of AI. They show one way to answer and are not official marking schemes. Your course provider's guidance and the primary sources take precedence. Disclaimer
Professional Practice Case Study
A complex project scenario requiring demonstration of all professional criteria. Oral exam preparation is key.
Law & Regulation
Statutory knowledge applied to project scenarios. Covers planning, building regulations, CDM, and dispute resolution.
Management & Ethics
Practice management, fee control, employment, and professional conduct scenarios.
Contracts & Administration
Traditional procurement: architect as CA, design team conflict
You are the architect on a £2.8m secondary school extension under a JCT Standard Building Contract 2024 (SBC/Q). You have been appointed as both lead designer and Contract Administrator under a RIBA Standard PSC 2020. The structural engineer (SE) is appointed directly by the clie...
Procurement & Fees
D&B novation: liability before and after contractor appointment
A commercial developer engages you as architect under a RIBA Standard PSC 2020 appointment to take a 40-unit residential-over-retail scheme to RIBA Stage 3. The fee is fixed at £180,000. The client's intention, stated in the appointment letter but not in the PSC itself, is to nov...
Regulations & Standards
Principal Designer obligations: Building Safety Act gateway 2
You are appointed as architect and Principal Designer under both CDM 2015 and the Building Safety Act 2022 on a 13-storey residential building in East London. The building is for a registered housing association client. The project has reached the end of RIBA Stage 3 and you are ...
Professional Ethics
Fee dispute and professional conduct: ARB Code 2025
You are a sole practitioner architect. Eight months ago you completed the design and planning stages (RIBA Stages 1 to 4) of a private residential extension for a returning client under a RIBA Concise PSC 2020. The fee was agreed at £22,000, invoiced in four stage payment milesto...
CDM & Health and Safety
Principal Contractor failure under CDM 2015 on an HRB
You are the architect and lead designer on a £4m, 8-storey residential apartment building in Manchester being constructed for a private build-to-rent client. The building is 19m to the top occupied storey and contains 24 dwellings, falling squarely within the higher-risk building...
Procurement & Fees
D&B tender evaluation: lowest price vs ER compliance
Your practice is appointed as Employer's Agent on a £8m mixed-use scheme in Bristol: 38 apartments above 1,200 sqm of ground-floor retail. The procurement route is JCT Design and Build 2024 with bespoke amendments drafted by the employer's solicitor. The client is a private regio...
Planning & Law
Listed building consent refused: appeal route and judicial review
Your practice has been retained by a private developer to convert a Grade II listed former Victorian board school in a Bristol conservation area into eight residential apartments. The building is single-phase 1873, brick with stone dressings, slate roof, and has retained much of ...
Professional Conduct & Ethics
Conflict of interest: acting for vendor and purchaser
You are sole director of a small architectural practice in Manchester. For the past nine years you have acted for Client A, a regional residential developer, on a steady stream of small-site appointments. Client A approaches you on a Monday morning with what they describe as a st...
Regulations & Standards
Fire strategy challenged at BSA Gateway 2
You are the architect and Principal Designer under the Building Safety Act 2022 on an 11-storey residential scheme of 64 flats for a private build-to-rent client in Birmingham. The building is unambiguously a higher-risk building under section 65 of the BSA 2022 (at least seven s...
Practice Management
GDPR data breach during project handover
Your 18-person practice has just reached practical completion on a £6m housing-association scheme of 42 rented and shared-ownership flats in Leeds. The handover meeting is scheduled for Friday morning. On Wednesday afternoon, a Part 2 architectural assistant in your team emailed ...
Appointments & Fees
Appointments & Fees: scope creep, standard of care, and consultant coordination
You are appointed under a RIBA Standard Professional Services Contract 2020 on a £4.5 million private residential scheme comprising 22 dwellings for a regional developer client. The appointment was concluded at the end of Stage 1, the Services Schedule lists the Stage 2 to Stage ...
Appointments & Fees
Appointments & Fees: novation, uninsurable terms, and PII protection
You are appointed under a RIBA Standard PSC 2020 by Helios Developments Ltd on a £12 million mixed-use scheme of retail at ground floor and 38 apartments above, procured as a JCT Design and Build 2024. Your appointment was executed under hand at Stage 2 with a net contribution cl...
Law
Law: adjudication mid-construction with the CA as conduit
You are the Contract Administrator on a £6 million extension to a regional hospital in the West Midlands procured under a JCT Standard Building Contract 2024 with Quantities. The Employer is the NHS Trust. Construction has reached month nine of an eighteen month programme. The ar...
Law
Law: late discovered defect, limitation periods, and the negligence test
In May 2018 you completed Practical Completion on the £3 million refurbishment of a four storey commercial office building in central Bristol. The appointment was a RIBA Standard Form of Agreement 2010, executed as a deed in 2015. The Stage 4 drawings included a parapet detail yo...
Project Stages & Process
Project Stages: post-tender client changes and the design freeze
You are appointed under a RIBA Standard PSC 2020 on a £5 million Cat B office fit-out of two floors of a Grade A office building in central Birmingham. The client is a professional services firm acting as both Employer and end-user. The project was procured under a JCT Standard B...
Project Stages & Process
Project Stages: Practical Completion under pressure, fire-safety items, and LADs
You are the Contract Administrator and Lead Designer on a £7 million hospitality refurbishment of a 64-bedroom hotel under a JCT Standard Building Contract 2024 (SBC/Q). The contract sum is fixed, the date for completion was 22 January 2027, and Liquidated Damages are set at £8,5...
Contracts & Administration
Contractor insolvency, late Payment Notices, and CA Final Account duty
You are the Contract Administrator on a £15 million mixed-use scheme of ground-floor retail and 46 apartments above, procured under JCT SBC 2024 with a fixed 14-month construction programme. You are eight months into construction. The contractor is Northwood Build Ltd and the emp...
CDM & Health and Safety
CDM Principal Designer: fatality from a design risk, HSE investigation, and conduct duty
You are the architect and CDM Principal Designer on a £4 million school refurbishment under JCT SBC 2024. You were appointed at Stage 2. The works include a new single-storey teaching block and refurbishment of an existing roof, where the design adds three new rooflights to bring...
Planning & Law
Planning enforcement: permitted development misuse, appeal vs JR, and personal liability
You acted as Lead Designer and CDM Principal Designer on a small residential project comprising 6 dwellings developed by Riverford Developments Ltd. The scheme was procured as a permitted development under Class MA (commercial to residential) of the GPDO 2015, converting a former...
Practice Management
Practice Management: PII renewal, cladding investigation, and proposed restructure
You are a partner in Marlowe and Co LLP, an architectural practice of 12 staff (4 members and 8 employees), in its eleventh year of trading. The annual PII renewal is 6 weeks away. Two weeks ago your PII broker informed the partnership that one of the practice's previous project...
New scenario every month
Each scenario includes full model answers and examiner guidance notes referenced to primary sources.