Why use a registered architect?

It takes a minimum of seven years before someone can register to use the title architect in the UK.

The traditional route to qualification is in three parts:

    • 3 years undergraduate degree (Part 1).
    • 1 year of practical experience in an architect’s studio (commonly called ‘year out’ part 1).
    • 2 years of post-graduate university study (Part 2).
    • 1 year of practical experience in an architect’s studio as an architectural assistant (Part 2).
    • Final professional exams (Part 3).
 

University exposes students to the breadth of architecture and the built environment as a subject and allows them to develop their own propositions, free from the constraints of practice. Students are imparted with a knowledge of design, an understanding of building types within the context and theory of architecture.

Practical experience in practice familiarises students with the process of designing a building. This culminates in studying for professional exams that test knowledge of the design process, together with the legal and contractural aspects of an architect’s practice. Only when students have passed all three stages, are they admitted to the architect’s register. 

Those that achieve this and register are then qualified to begin to use the professional title of architect.