The ARBV strives to ensure the delivery of quality architectural services in Victoria, the protection of consumers of architectural services as well as the broader community, and to instil public confidence in the regulation of the architecture profession by the ARBV.
To this end, the ARBV is committed to ensuring that outcomes are at the heart of its regulatory approach and activities.
Regulatory objectives
In overseeing the regulatory framework, the ARBV specifically aims to:
- promote and maintain high standards of professional conduct and practice by architects
- restrict who can represent themselves as architects
- ensure only suitably qualified entities are registered and approved to provide architectural services
- ensure compliance by architects with insurance requirements
- support architects to fulfil their professional obligations to their clients
- encourage and support voluntary compliance with the regulatory framework
- engender confidence in and respect for the profession.
The ARBV uses all its available regulatory tools to pursue these objectives.
Regulatory strategy
The ARBV’s Regulatory Strategy sets out the ARBV’s risk-based approach to undertaking its proactive and reactive regulatory activities. It explains how the ARBV regulates the architecture profession in Victoria using the risks associated with non-compliance and consequent harm that could compromise the achievement of regulatory objectives as a guide for its
regulatory activities. In turn, this approach helps to ensure that the regulation of the architecture profession in Victoria is effective, fair, efficient, and consistent.
The ARBV has also published a Statement of Regulatory Approach, which explains the risk-based approach to external stakeholders, including regulated entities.
The Statement of Regulatory Approach provides transparency regarding the ARBV’s risk-based approach to regulation, while also encouraging regulated entities to voluntarily comply with the regulatory framework.
The ARBV’s Regulatory Strategy and Statement of Regulatory Approach were updated to reflect amendments to the Architects Act 1991 which came into effect in 2025 and amendments to the Architects Regulations 2015, including the Architects Code of Professional Conduct (the Code) contained in Schedule 1 of the Regulations, which came into effect on April 2026 following sunset of the 2015 Regulations.
Regulatory activities
The ARBV uses its registration and approval function to ensure that only those that are eligible under the regulatory framework are permitted to provide architectural services. In addition, the ARBV undertakes proactive and reactive regulatory activity to respectively mitigate the risk of non-compliance with the regulatory framework and address that risk in cases when noncompliance occurs.
Proactive regulatory activity
The ARBV’s proactive strategic plan for FY 23/24 – FY 25/26 helps to ensure that the ARBV’s proactive regulatory activities keep pace with a rapidly changing environment.
Proactive activities include:
- developing educational materials, including fact sheets, updates and webinars, to assist architects to understand and meet their obligations and to help clients to understand their rights
- engaging with a broad range of stakeholders, including architects, clients and industry bodies, to discuss compliance issues, encourage voluntary compliance, and gain insights about areas of concern
- carrying out research and analysis to help the ARBV better understand sector-wide issues and concerns
- monitoring regulated entities, gathering intelligence from various sources about compliance risks and analysing information to detect compliance trends and issues.
Reactive regulatory activity
The ARBV undertakes reactive regulatory activity to respond to instances of actual or possible noncompliance. The ARBV’s reactive regulatory activity may include:
- education and engagement
- informal advice or warning about compliance
- referral to the Architects Tribunal where there are concerns about an architect’s fitness to practise and/or professional conduct
- suspending or cancelling registration or approval
- institution of prosecution proceedings.
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