Architects’ Code of Conduct

The Architects' Code of Conduct sets out the responsibilities of Architects to the public, clients, employers and colleagues. Architects are expected to be guided in their practice of the profession by the spirit of the code as well as by its express terms. The standards of professional conduct and practice expected of an architect are set out under three principles: General Obligations; Obligations to Clients and Employers; and Obligations to the Profession. 

A breach of the code by an Architect may be grounds for a fitness to practice complaint being made against them to the Professional Conduct Committee (PCC). Where the PCC is of the opinion that the breach is serious or repetitive or part of a series of breaches and consequently an architect is found guilty of professional misconduct the PCC could impose a sanction ranging from censure, advice or admonishment up to a fine, suspension or erasure from the register. That fact that a course of conduct is not specified in the Code does not mean that it cannot form the basis of a fitness to practice complaint.

This Code is the code referred to in Part 6 of the Building Control Act and was published to the profession on 14 August 2013.