TRUSTEES FOR THE PUBLIC

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21938, 12 November 1936, Page 14

TRUSTEES FOR THE PUBLIC

ARCHITECTS* DUTIES

Insistence on high-principled efficient service to the public is emphatically expressed in the code of professional practice of the Royal Institute of British Architects, whose example is followed by the New Zealand Institute.

“An architect is artist, scientist and business man,” states Mr Geoffrey Wilson, honorary secretary of the Royal Institute of British Architects, "but from the point of view of the code of professional practice, he is first and last a trustee for the proper expenditure of the building owner’s money, though never actually handling it, and it is of primary importance that he should be able to give impartial and completely disinterested advice to his client. When, therefore, payments become due to the contractor under the terms of the contract, the, architect issues his certificates stating the amount due and to be paid direct by his client to the contractor. He must be remunerated solely by his professional fees and is rightly debarred from any other source of remuneration in connexion with the works and duties entrusted to him. This may seem so obvious that any comment is superfluous, but cases have arisen where an architect has accepted work involving the giving and receiving of discounts or commissions from contractors or tradesmen. That some blame attaches in this respect to his client as well as himself is obvious from the hypothetical case of Mr X., who being the type of man who wishes to get something for nothing, decides to drive a hard bargain with an architect, hoping that he will not uphold the Royal Institute of British Architects’ scale of professional charges, but forgetting that such an architect may be equally disloyal to the code. The architect finally agrees with his client to accept a ridiculously low fee, with the mental reservation that he will ‘pick up on the swings’ of discount, gifts and commissions ‘what he has lost on the roundabouts’ of fair and proper dealing. That there can be no possible excuse for such conduct is agreed, but Mr X. cannot be held blameless or be given any sympathy if he is unable to appreciate that the maintenance of a strict professional code is as much in his interest as. that of the architect.

“It will, however, be noticed that architects are sometimes employed by commercial firms, which may at first sight appear an illogicality. There is, however, no objection to this, always provided that the architect so employed Is remunerated solely by means of a salary, and that such remuneration must not in any way depend on commissions based on the profits of the fim who employ him. The Royal Institute of British Architects notes this growing custom of the employment of architects in this capacity and is glad to see that commercial firms appreciate the necessity for employing the properly trained and qualified man in their own interests and those of the public, especially under the conditions which have often prevailed when many young qualified men have found it difficult, if not impossible, to obtain regular employment in any other way ”