This Act may be cited as the Architects (Registration) Act, 1931.
In this Act unless the context otherwise requires—
The expression " the Council " means the Architects' Registration Council of the United Kingdom established for the purposes of this Act.
The expression " registered person " means a person registered under this Act.
The expression " prescribed " means prescribed by regulations made by the Council under this Act.
The expression " the Register " means the Register kept in pursuance of this Act.
(1)For the purposes of this Act there shall be established an Architects' Registration Council of the United Kingdom (in this Act referred to as " the Council") which shall be a body corporate by that name, with perpetual succession and a common seal and power to acquire and hold land without licence in mortmain.
(2)The provisions contained in the First Schedule to this Act shall have effect with respect to the constitution and proceedings of the Council. The seal of the Council shall be authenticated in manner prescribed by the Council, and any document purporting to be sealed with the seal so authenticated shall be receivable as evidence of the particulars stated in that document.
(3)It shall be the duty of the Council within six months from the commencement of this Act to set up and thereafter maintain a register to be called " the Register of Registered Architects " and to cause to be entered therein the name and address of every person entitled to be registered under this Act, and to cause to be removed therefrom—
(a)the names of all registered persons who have made application to the Council in the prescribed manner, requesting the Council to remove their names from the Register; and
(b)the names of all registered persons who shall have died and any names or particulars inaccurately entered in the Register;
and from time to time to cause to be made any necessary alterations therein.
(4)The Council shall not later than twenty-seven months from the commencement of this Act and annually thereafter publish and offer for sale at the prescribed price copies of the Register, setting forth the names of the registered persons in alphabetical order according to their surnames, with their respective regular business addresses, and a copy of the Register certified by order of the Council or by any officer of the Council duly authorised in that behalf, to be a correct copy, shall be prima facie evidence that any person named therein is registered in accordance with the provisions of this Act: Provided always that in the case of a person whose name does not appear on such copy, a certificate under the hand of any officer of the Council, duly authorised in that behalf, of the entry of the name of such person in the Register, shall be prima facie evidence that such person is registered in accordance with the provisions of this Act. Such certificate shall remain the property of the Council and be surrendered by the holder to the Council upon publication of the name in or upon removal of the name from the Register.
If the holder refuses so to surrender such certificate to the council on demand, he shall on summary conviction be liable to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds.
The Council shall from time to time appoint such officers and servants as shall be necessary for the purposes of this Act and may assign to such officers and servants such duties as the Council shall consider desirable for the purposes of this Act, and every person so appointed shall be removable by the Council, and shall be paid by the Council such salary, emoluments and benefits as the Council may think fit.
(1)For the purposes of this Act there shall be appointed annually by the Council—
(a)a board of architectural education (in this Act referred to as "the Board") constituted in accordance with the Second Schedule to this Act; and
(b)a committee (in this Act referred to as "the Admission Committee") constituted in accordance with the Third Schedule to this Act.
(2)It shall be the duty of the Board to recommend to the Council—
(a)the recognition of any examinations in architecture the passing of which ought, in the opinion of the Board, to qualify persons for registration under this Act; and
(b)the holding of any examinations in architecture which ought, in the opinion of the Board, to be passed by applicants for registration under this Act;
and to hold examinations in architecture in accordance with this Act.
(3)It shall be the duty of the Admission Committee to consider every application for registration under this Act and to report thereon to the Council as to whether or not the applicant is, in the opinion of the Committee, qualified for registration.
(1)Subject to the provisions of this Act, a person shall, on application made to the Council in the prescribed manner and on payment of the prescribed fee, be entitled to be registered under this Act, if the Council are satisfied on a report of the Admission Committee—
(a)that he is an architect member of the Royal Academy or of the Royal Scottish Academy; or
(b)that his application for registration was made within two years from the commencement of this Act and that at the commencement of this Act he was, or had been, practising as an architect in the United Kingdom; or
(c)that he has passed any examination in architecture which is for the time being recognised by the Council; or
(d)that he possesses the prescribed qualifications.
(2)The Council shall cause a written notice of their decision on any application for registration to be served on the applicant within the prescribed period after the date of decision.
(3)Where the Board recommend to the Council the recognition of any examination in architecture, the Council shall recognise that examination for the purpose of paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of this section.
(4)For the purpose of paragraph (d) of subsection (1) of this section, the prescribed qualifications may include the passing of any examinations in architecture, the holding of which may have been recommended to the Council by the Board, and in that event the Council shall direct the Board to hold those examinations, and those examinations shall be held by the Board accordingly at least once in each year and at such times and places as the Board may determine. Save as aforesaid, the Council shall not prescribe as a qualification for registration the passing of any examination held by or under the authority of the Council or the Board.
(1)If any registered person is convicted of a criminal offence, or if the committee appointed for the purposes of this section, after an inquiry held thereunder in respect of any registered person, report to the Council that that person has been guilty of conduct disgraceful to him in his capacity as an architect, the Council may, subject to the provisions of this section, cause the name of that person to be removed from the Register, and where the name of any person is duly removed from the Register under this subsection, he shall, during such period thereafter as the Council may determine on the occasion of the removal, be disqualified for registration under this Act:
Provided that the Council may at any time, either of their own motion or on the application of the person concerned, cause his name to be restored to the Register, either without payment of a fee or on payment of such fee not exceeding the fee payable for registration under this Act as the Council may determine.
(2)For the purposes of this section there shall, subject as hereinafter provided, be appointed annually by the Council a committee (in this Act referred to as " the Discipline Committee ") consisting of eight persons, of whom four shall be registered persons nominated by the Council (including one person who is practising as an architect in Scotland), one shall be nominated by the Commissioners of Works, one shall be nominated by the Minister of Health and two shall be nominated by the President of the Law Society, and it shall be the duty of the said Committee, if so directed by the Council, to inquire into, and report to the Council on, any case in which it is alleged that a registered person has been guilty of conduct disgraceful to him in his capacity as an architect:
Provided that, in the case of any inquiry under this section in respect of a registered person who is a member of any of the bodies referred to in the First Schedule to this Act, the council or other governing body of each such body of which the registered person is a member shall (except where the Discipline Committee already includes a member of that body) be entitled to nominate one person for membership of that Committee, and upon the name of any person duly nominated as aforesaid being submitted to them in the prescribed manner, the Council shall appoint that person to be an additional member of the Discipline Committee for the purposes of the inquiry and of the report of the Committee in connection therewith.
(3)It shall be the duty of the Council to direct the Discipline Committee to hold an inquiry under this section in any case in which it appears to the Council that such an inquiry is necessary.
(4)Where the Council direct the Discipline Committee to hold any inquiry under this section in respect of a registered person, the Council shall forthwith cause to be served on that person a written notice of the proposed inquiry, specifying the time and place at which it is to be held and the subject matter thereof, and that person shall, on application made in the prescribed manner and within the prescribed period from the date of the service of the said notice, be entitled to be heard by the Discipline Committee at the inquiry, either in person or by counsel or a solicitor.
(5)Where the Council intend to remove the name of any person from the Register in pursuance of this section, then, before so doing, the Council shall cause a written notice of their intention to be served on that person and shall, on application made by that person in the prescribed manner within three months from the date of the service of the said notice, consider any representations with regard to the matter which may be made by him to the Council, either in person or by counsel or a solicitor.
Where the Council cause the name of any person to be removed from the Register, they shall forthwith cause written notice of the removal to be served on that person, and where, in connection with the removal, the Council have determined that the person in question shall, during any period, be disqualified for registration, the determination of the Council shall be specified in the said notice:
Provided that nothing in the foregoing provisions of this section shall apply in a case where the Council cause the name of any person to be removed from the Register in consequence of the death of that person.
Any person aggrieved by the removal of his name from the Register, or by a determination of the Council that he be disqualified for registration during any period, may, within three months from the date on which notice of the removal or determination was served on him, appeal to the High Court or Court of Session against the removal or determination, and on any such appeal the Court may give such directions in the matter as they think proper, and the order of the Court shall be final.
Any registered person shall be entitled to take and use the name or title of " Registered Architect," but a person shall not practise under any name, title or style containing the words " Registered Architect," unless he is a registered person, and any unregistered person who so practises or wilfully pretends to be a registered person, or takes or uses the name or title of a Registered Architect or any name, title, style or description implying that he is a registered person, shall on summary conviction be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds for the first offence and one hundred pounds for every subsequent offence :
Provided that—
(a)where a contravention of this section by any person is occasioned by the fact that his name has been removed from the Register it shall be a good defence to any proceedings in respect of the contravention to prove that at the time when it is alleged to have been committed—
(i)notice of the removal had not been served in accordance with this Act; or
(ii)the time for appealing to the High Court or Court of Session against the removal had not expired; or
(iii)an appeal to the High Court or Court of Session against the removal had been duly brought and had not been determined; and
(b)nothing in this section shall affect the validity as between contracting parties of any act of any person under any customary form or conditions of a building contract.
For the purpose of maintaining the Register the Council may at any time by notice in writing served on any registered person inquire if such person has changed his regular business address, and if no answer shall be received within six months from the sending of such notice, the Council shall send to the said person a further notice by post as a registered letter, and if no answer shall be received within three months from the sending of such further notice, the Council may remove the name of such person from the Register.
If any person shall wilfully procure or attempt to procure himself to be registered under this Act by making or producing or causing to be made or produced any false or fraudulent representation or declaration, either verbally or in writing, the person so offending, shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds.
(1)Subject to the provisions of this Act, regulations made by the Council shall or may, as the case may be, prescribe anything which is by this Act , required or authorised to be prescribed, and may further make provision—
(a)prescribing the fee (hereafter in this section referred to as " a retention fee ") to be paid in respect of the retention of any name in the Register during any calendar year subsequent to that in which the name was entered in the Register, and the fees to be paid by candidates for any examination held under this Act;
(b)prescribing the information to be furnished to the Admission Committee or the Council in connection with any application for registration under this Act;
(c)providing (subject to such restrictions or conditions as may be prescribed) for the delegation to committees of any of the functions of the Council other than functions under section six or section seven of this Act;
(d)regulating the meetings and procedure (including quorum) of the Council, the Board and any committee appointed under this Act;
(e)for the filling of casual vacancies in the Council, the Board and any such committee as aforesaid;
(f)generally for carrying out or facilitating the purposes of this Act:
Provided that no regulations affecting the Board or the Admission Committee shall be made by the Council without consultation with the Board or the Admission Committee, as the case may be.
(2)No regulations made under this Act shall be of any force or validity unless and until they have been approved by the Privy Council, and the Privy Council shall, before giving their approval, cause the regulations to be published and give persons to whom the regulations are applicable an opportunity of making representations to the Privy Council thereon.
(3)The powers conferred on the Privy Council by this section may be exercised by any two or more of the Lords and others for the time being of His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council.
(4)Any act of the Privy Council under this section shall be sufficiently signified by an instrument signed by the clerk of the Privy Council, and every order and act signified by an instrument purporting to be so signed shall be deemed to have been duly made and done by the Privy Council, and every instrument purporting to be so signed shall be received in evidence in all courts and proceedings without proof of the authority or signature of the clerk of the Privy Council or other proof.
(5)If any registered person, within the prescribed period after the date on which the Council have caused to be sent to him a written demand for payment of any retention fee payable by him, fails to pay that fee to the Council, the Council may cause his name to be removed from the Register, but if, within the year in respect of which the fee is payable or within such longer period as the Council may allow, the said person pays to the Council the retention fee, together with such additional sum (if any) by way of penalty as may be prescribed, his name shall be restored to the Register, and, if the Council so direct, the restoration shall have effect as from the date on which his name was removed from the Register.
At least half the total amount of the fees received in each calendar year by the Council under this Act shall be devoted, in such manner and on such conditions as the Council may determine, to the provision of scholarships and maintenance grants for the assistance of students in architecture whose means appear to the Council to be insufficient to enable them to pursue their studies.
The Council shall on payment of the prescribed charges supply a copy of any regulations made under this Act and of any forms prescribed by such regulations to any person applying for the same.
(1)Any notice or document required by or for the purposes of this Act to be sent may be sent by post, and when sent to any registered person shall be deemed to be properly addressed if addressed to him at his address in the Register.
(2)Any notice relating to the refusal to register any person, or to the removal from the Register of the name of any registered person, shall be sent by post as a registered letter.
Nothing in this Act shall prevent a body corporate, firm or partnership from carrying on business under the style or title of Registered Architect:
(a)if the business of the body corporate, firm or partnership so far as it relates to architecture is under the control and management of a superintendent who is a registered person and who does not act at the same time in a similar capacity for any other body corporate firm or partnership; and
(b)if in every premises where such business as aforesaid is carried on and is not personally conducted by the superintendent such business is bona fide conducted under the direction of the superintendent by an assistant who is a registered person.
(1)Save as otherwise provided in this Act, this Act shall come into operation on the first day of January, nineteen hundred and thirty-two.
(2)This Act shall not extend to Northern Ireland unless and until provision to that effect is made by an Order of His Majesty in Council made in pursuance of a resolution passed by both Houses of the Parliament of Northern Ireland, and any such Order may make such adaptations of this Act in its application to Northern Ireland as may appear to His Majesty in Council to be necessary.
(3)In the event of this Act being so extended to Northern Ireland, then, for the purposes of section six of the [10 & 11 Geo. 5. c. 67.] Government of Ireland Act, 1920, this Act shall be deemed to be an Act passed before the appointed day.