Architects' status as professionals

A. Overview

B. Introduction

94. Architects’ compliance obligations stem from their status as professionals. Like medical practitioners, lawyers and other types of professionals, architects are skilled individuals who use their knowledge and expertise to provide specialised services.
95. In their capacity as professionals, architects are entrusted with responsibilities that affect a wide range of important societal values. These values include safety, aesthetic appeal, environmental sustainability, cultural heritage and identity, social equity and inclusion, economic efficiency and productivity, and contribution to communities and public life.
96. Architects’ professional status means that they are held to high standards by their clients, the public and professional peers. Society expects professionals to be competent and diligent when providing services, to act ethically at all times, to be accountable for their decisions and actions, and to use their skills and expertise to serve the public good.
97. This chapter explains the implications for architects of their status as professionals. It frames compliance not as a set of external rules that must be followed to avoid regulatory sanction, but as a core professional obligation that is integral to maintaining public trust and upholding the standards expected of members of the architecture profession.

C. The defining attributes of a “professional”

98. It is important for architects to be cognisant of the key attributes of a professional, which are shared among a variety of different types of professionals. An understanding of these attributes lays the foundation for a clear and shared understanding of what it means to be part of the architecture profession, including the implicit commitment to compliance.

Professionals possess specialised knowledge and expertise, which are used to provide important services

99. Professionals are distinguished from other service providers by their special expertise and provision of an important service for the benefit of others.[29] They apply their expertise in the service of others by addressing the needs and problems of clients, communities, or society at large.
100. Professionals’ expertise can be characterised as a combination of specialised knowledge and practical skills, which have been acquired through extensive education, training, and experience. This expertise goes beyond general knowledge and enables professionals to engage in complex problem-solving and critical decision-making, at times in challenging situations with significant consequences.
101. The combination of expertise and commitment to the service of others engenders public trust and confidence. Lay people rely upon professionals’ expertise because they are not in a position to evaluate the services provided by professionals, or to undertake comparable services for themselves. This elevates the status of professionals in society.[30]
102. Architects are regarded as professionals because they possess specialised knowledge and expertise acquired through extensive education and training. This knowledge and expertise is applied to the design of safe, functional, and aesthetically and culturally meaningful spaces that meet their clients’ and the public’s needs and interests.[31]
103. Architects’ professional role often involves collaboration and the complex exercise of discretion and judgment.[32] Decisions made by architects can have long-term social, safety and economic implications. In making these choices, architects are trusted to balance creativity with technical accuracy, regulatory compliance and social responsibility.
104. These features distinguish architectural services from other purely technical or transactional services that could be provided in the context of a construction project, such as services provided by tradespeople.

As part of their social contract with the public, professionals are expected to maintain high standards and comply with their legal and ethical obligations

105. Professionals attain a position of responsibility in society as a result of the trust and confidence that members of the public have in them by virtue of their specialised knowledge and skills that most people don’t have.
106. Their responsibility is reinforced through the process of providing services. They may be provided access to information that can be personally or commercially sensitive. In addition, they may be empowered to make important decisions that can have significant consequences.
107. This position of responsibility could be exploited by professionals to advance their own interests at the expense of those they serve.[33] However, public expectations help to counter-balance this risk. These expectations are rooted in the social contract that underpins a professional’s social status.
108. In exchange for their respected position in society, professionals are expected to act in the public interest by maintaining high standards and complying with their legal and ethical obligations. In practice, this means that professionals are expected to do their work carefully and competently, follow the law, and to act honestly and with integrity. The public expects professionals to exercise sound judgment, avoid conflicts of interest, and prioritise clients’ interests and the public good over personal gain.
109. These expectations are held not just by members of the public, but are also shared by the profession as a whole. Members of a profession are bound together by common education and training, as well as aspirations and values.[34] When all members act responsibly and ethically, it reinforces the profession’s reputation and strengthens its social value. Conversely, a failure to uphold professional standards weakens the credibility and standing of the profession as a whole.

Legislation reinforces the social contract between professionals and the public by restricting entry to qualified professionals in exchange for a commitment to uphold professional standards

110. Legislation is used to give effect to the social contract between professionals and the public.
111. Statutory requirements that must be satisfied to enter into a profession are used to ensure that only individuals with the necessary qualifications, skills, and ethical standards are allowed to enter and remain in the profession. These entry requirements signal to prospective clients and the general public that professionals are competent and trustworthy. They can also help to align members of the profession through exclusive protection of the use of professional titles for those who are duly qualified and trained.[35]
112. In the case of architects, the ARBV may register a person as an architect under the Act if satisfied that the applicant is eligible to be registered.[36] The eligibility criteria include the requirement that the person holds prescribed qualifications, or has passed a prescribed course of study, and has completed two years undertaking practical architectural work to the satisfaction of the ARBV.[37] The ARBV also has power to approve a partnership or a company to provide architectural services if, among other things, at least one of the partners or directors is an architect registered by the ARBV.[38]
113. In exchange for restricted access to the profession and market protection, legislation typically requires professionals to adhere to professional standards. These standards help to ensure that professionals are competent, honest, trustworthy, dedicated, accountable and committed to high quality work. In turn, this improves the quality of services and protects consumers from harm.[39]
114. As with other types of professionals, architects must comply with the professional standards contained in the Code of Professional Conduct as a condition of their registration by the ARBV. These standards cover a range of matters to maintain public trust and uphold the integrity of the profession. In practice, the Code of Professional Conduct provides guidance for architects regarding their operations, behaviour and decisions.[40]
115. The ARBV has the power to take various actions if the Code has been breached. For example, the ARBV may refer an architect to the Architects Tribunal for an inquiry into an architect’s fitness to practise or professional conduct.[41] In certain circumstances, the ARBV also has the power to suspend or revoke the registration of an architect[42] or approval of a partnership or company.[43]

The common law, which is made by judges rather than under statute, elaborates duties owed by professionals to their clients and other third parties

116. The common law – based on judicial decisions and precedents – supplements statutory requirements that apply to professionals.
117. At common law, professionals owe a duty of care and skill to those to whom they provide services. This duty arises because professionals impliedly warrant that they are reasonably competent to perform the relevant services and that they will exercise a reasonable degree of care in doing so.[44] The duty may arise even in the absence of a contractual relationship between a professional and a third party.[45] Failure to discharge this common law duty can lead to a claim of negligence, which is the failure to exercise the degree of care that the circumstances demand.[46]
118. This duty means that architects must perform their work with the skill, care, and diligence reasonably expected of a competent professional. The duty of care owed to clients may extend to third parties, such as subsequent owners of a building designed by an architect, and the general public.
119. Professionals may also owe fiduciary duties to their clients, requiring loyalty, confidentiality, and avoidance of conflicts of interest. These duties may arise in cases where the relationship between the professional and client transcends the ordinary arm’s length business relationship between a service provider and a client, such as where professionals have the opportunity to exercise a power or discretion and make decisions that could be to the detriment of their clients, who may be vulnerable to abuse.[47]
120. Architects are not automatically regarded as fiduciaries at common law – that is, a person or entity in a position of trust and confidence, obligated to act solely in the best interests of another person. However, they may owe fiduciary duties to act with loyalty, honesty, and in the client’s best interests when they are entrusted with significant decision-making power or discretion and clients are in a position of particular dependence or vulnerability.
121. Practical scenarios where this may occur include the following:

• Key strategic decisions: Architects have power to influence or make key strategic decisions in relation to a project.
• Agency: Architects are authorised to deal with third parties and make decisions on the behalf of their clients.
• Management of project funds: Architects have control over financial matters, including project funds for payment to third parties.

122. In these scenarios, architects may be regarded as fiduciaries. As a consequence, they must avoid conflicts of interest and not profit at the expense of their clients.

Industry guidance for members may supplement requirements imposed on architects under statute and under common law

123. In addition to their obligations under statute and common law, architects that are members of a professional body may also have agreed to adhere to guidance issued by that body.
124. For example, the Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA or ‘the institute’) has published a code of professional conduct that is distinct and separate from the Code of Professional Conduct made under the Act and enforceable by the ARBV. That code explains that it establishes principles to address obligations to the public, the client, profession, and colleagues with which members of the RAIA are required to conform and defines ethical standards to ensure the principles are upheld.

D. Compliance implications of architects’ status as professionals

125. Architects’ status as professionals has important compliance implications.
126. At the heart of professionalism is a commitment to core values, such as competence, integrity and accountability. In order to uphold these core values, a professional must engage meaningfully with the regulatory framework that governs them because the regulatory framework gives effect to those values.
127. In fact, a professional mindset naturally aligns with a proactive and committed approach to compliance. Compliance with the regulatory framework is integral to being a professional. Professionalism reinforces the importance of embedding compliance into every aspect of an architect’s practice.
128. It is important for architects to recognise that compliance is implicit in professional identity, rather than view compliance as a burden. A strong professional identity, which is focused on using skills and expertise to serve others, enhances the quality of services, improves outcomes, and helps to ensure compliance with professional obligations.[48]
129. At an individual level, architects have a vested interest in upholding professional standards and complying with their legal and ethical duties and obligations. Doing so helps to build trust and protect their reputation among clients and the public and distinguish architects from other building designers. Such an approach also avoids disciplinary action or other regulatory sanction for non-compliance.
130. More generally, a shared commitment across the architecture profession to comply with professional obligations, adhere to ethical standards, and strive for best practice helps to reinforce the credibility, reputation and the legitimacy of the entire profession.
131. A strong compliance culture can serve as a signal that architects and architectural firms take their professional obligations seriously.

E. Concluding remarks

132. Professionalism requires not only technical competence, but also entails a proactive and committed approach to upholding standards that protect clients, communities, and the public interest from harm.
133. In practice, this means that, as professionals, architects should understand the regulatory framework that governs them and accept and embrace the duties it imposes.
134. The next chapter outlines overarching duties owed by architects to their clients, the public and to the profession that derive from their professional status.