Foster + Partners has chaired a Trailblazer Group of 20 architectural practices to create the UK’s first Architecture Apprenticeship Standards, in collaboration with RIBA, ARB and over a dozen UK universities. The group has developed two apprenticeship standards: Architectural Assistant, which comprises of Part 1 qualification, and Architect, which includes Part 2 and Part 3 qualifications. Both these standards have now been approved by the Institute for Apprenticeships.
Apprenticeships combine practical experience in the workplace with academic training provided by a university. The academic training can be delivered by any UK university offering an ARB prescribed qualification. Apprentices are exempted from paying tuition fee and will also receive a salary and other employee related benefits.
“This vital initiative will help us to improve the diversity of our profession, to attract young people to study architecture, and provide more accessible routes to qualification and employment opportunities…The exposure to contemporary architectural business will be a major benefit for students, and practices will also benefit from the challenge of a new commitment to developing talent.”
The apprenticeships have been set up to improve the link between practice and academia, while also contributing to improving diversity in the profession. The approval of the scheme demonstrates how the industry can work together to make a positive contribution in the development of the profession.
From Ben Derbyshire, RIBA President:
It is with great excitement that we welcome the news of the approval for the first ever Architecture Apprenticeships. For more than 18 months the RIBA has been working with a Trailblazer Group of 20 architectural practices co-ordinated by Peter Garstecki of Foster + Partners to develop two Apprenticeship Standards: Architectural Assistant (Part 1) and Architect (Part 2 and Part 3) which have now been approved by the Institute of Apprenticeships.
This vital initiative will help us to improve the diversity of our profession, to attract young people to study architecture and provide more accessible routes to qualification and employment opportunities. The exposure to contemporary architectural business will be a major benefit for students and practices will also benefit from the challenge of a new commitment to developing talent.
The new Apprenticeship Standards will help to encourage the widest talent pool and address the underrepresentation of architects from lower socio-economic backgrounds who, without parental support, face barriers to full-time education.
The RIBA will now work hard to broker relationships between practices and schools to meet the potential of this new route to qualification and create the infrastructure for life-long learning in practice.
Adding this new route to the existing range of RIBA validated full and part-time and practice-based options for studying architecture is an excellent step in creating a profession that’s far more accessible to young people from any background, and I am excited to work with our practices going forward as we put the wheels in motion and follow the journeys of the very first architecture apprentices.
A number of universities are expected to be ready to deliver courses in September 2018.
For more information on the two apprenticeship standards visit:
Architectural Assistant: https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/apprenticeship-standards/architectural-assistant-degree/
Architect: https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/apprenticeship-standards/architect-degree/
The Architecture Trailblazer Group includes:
- Chair – Foster + Partners
- Lipscomb Jones Architects (Architectural Assistant standard sub-lead)
- Hawkins/Brown (Architect standard sub-lead)
- Seven Architecture (Architectural Assistant assessment sub-lead)
- Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios (Architectural Assistant assessment sub-lead)
- Scott Brownrigg (Architect assessment sub-lead)
- Pollard Thomas Edwards (Architecture Apprenticeships Guide sub-lead)
- Allford Hall Monaghan Morris
- ARUP
- BDP
- Grimshaw Architects
- HLM Architects
- HOK
- HTA Design LLP
- Perkins + Will
- PLP Architecture
- Purcell
- Ryder
- Stanton Williams
- tp bennett
News via Foster + Partners