Protection from Unregistered Persons

The Act protects the title "architect" and provides that a person must not claim or hold himself or herself out to be an "architect", or allow himself or herself to be held out as an "architect", unless the person is registered with the Board.

The Act also provides that a person must not use the title "architect" or "registered architect" unless they are registered with the Board.  A reference to a "person" in these sections also includes a company.

Section 114(2) of the Act also provides that a person who is not a registered practising architect must not use any of the following words to advertise or otherwise promote their services unless the services are to be provided using a registered practising architect.:
"architectural services"; 
"architectural design services"; or
"architectural design". 

In addition to the titles and terms mentioned above, for clarity, Schedule 1 of the Architects Regulation 2019 contains lists of titles, names and words that must not be used by a person in a context that suggests the person is an architect, unless that person is registered as an architect with the Board. 

Use of any of these titles or terms by a person in a way that suggests they are an architect can constitute an offence under sections 114(1)(b) and/or 114(2)(b) of the Act.

The prescribed titles or names are:
“architectural building designer”;
“associate architect”;
“BIM (building information modelling) architect”;
“CAD (computer aided design) architect”;
“commercial architect”;
“design architect”;
“graduate architect”;
"grand architect”;
“infrastructure architect”;
“in-house architect”;
“interior architect”;
“principal architect”;
“project architect”;
“residential architect”;
“senior architect”; and
“student architect”.
 The prescribed words are:

“architectural”;
“architectural building design”;
“architectural experience”;
“architectural fee’;
“architectural planning and design”;
“architectural plans”;
“architectural project”;
“architectural project design”;
“architectural skill”;
“architecturally”;
“architecturally designed”;
“architecture”;
“architecture design”;
“commercial architecture”;
“interior architecture”; and
“residential architecture”.

Because some companies use the term "Architect" or "Architects" and do use registered architects to supervise the architectural work, the Act also provides that these companies may notify the Board regarding details about the company, its places of business and the names of the responsible architects to ensure they do not offend against the Act.  If a company gives the Board an approved notice with the required details then the company does not offend against section 113(1) or section 114(1) or section 140(1) simply because it is using the word "architect" or "architects". The approved notice is known as a Section 141A Form 1 Notice . 

Section 140(1) provides that a person is not entitled to any monetary or other consideration for the performance of architectural services in certain circumstances where the services were held out to be provided by an architect when, in fact they were not undertaken by a registered practising architect. 

Use the Board's Search Register feature to ensure the person holding out as an architect or providing architectural services is entitled to use the title.

For the full text of these sections of the Act click here .   To see the full list of prescribed terms under the Architects Regulation 2019, Schedule 1 click here .

Policy of Titles for Unregistered Persons - currently under review

The Board has determined that this policy should apply in respect to titles used by unregistered persons for the purposes of determining whether an offence had occurred pursuant to sections 113 or 114 of the Act.