Episode 79:

Hello and Welcome to the Part3 with me podcast, 

The show that helps part 3 students jump start into their careers as qualified architects and also to provide refresher episodes for practicing architects. I am your host Maria Skoutari and this week we will be talking about Ethics. Todays episode meets PC1 & PC2 of the Part 3 Criteria.

Looking at the last few couple of exam past papers I noticed there were a number of ethical questions so I wanted to do an episode on the subject to better prepare you in both answering exam questions but also to assist you in your everyday practice life. This is quite an extensive subject so I will be splitting this into two Parts, today we will cover the professions and general industry’s ethical duties towards the climate and wider world, society and clients and next week I will cover the ethical duties towards the workplace, the profession and oneself. 

So how do ethics coincide wheith architectural practice:

Some ethical decisions with regard to architectural practice are informed by legislation and regulations, others are may be informed by the codes of practice and conduct. Architectural practices, however, should also reflect on how laws and codes impact their decision and how they should act applying them in an ethical and considerate way. 

Ethical decisions, however, are not only with regards to regulations and codes but also within the practice dynamics. For example, an architectural practice may be fully compliant with employment law but they could make choices for more ethical practices by offering enhanced parental leave for example or providing salary transparency. Or for example, a practice designing in full compliance with minimum space standards but they may deem those unethical and push their clients in adopting a more ethical approach going above and beyond the technical legal and regulatory requirements. 

By adopting ethical practices in architecture practices it assists in:

• Increasing trust from suppliers and clients
• Decreasing risks through supporting staff and listening to their concerns
• Improved transparency of management practices
• Enhancing reputation and reducing risk of damaging reputation
• Attracting like-minded clients
• Attracting and retaining high-quality staff
• Avoiding or minimising (costly) litigation and disputes
• Lower insurance premiums
• Easier and more successful progress through the planning process
• More thorough and accountable decision-making

Following such practices, however, can sometime be met by counter issues of being undercut by less ethical competitors, being deemed as ‘difficult’ by clients, providing transparency leading to vulnerability to legal action, staff being poached, and so on.

As a profession, we adhere to the Codes of Conduct which are a standard way for the profession to manage the conduct of its members. The key ethical duties to be followed include:

• A duty towards the wider world: meaning duty towards the environment, the use of resources considering embodied carbon, future-proofing, accounting and feedback through monitoring and evaluating in-use performance
• A duty towards society and end users: meaning considering public interest, community engagement, social value, impact of projects on society, heritage value, health and safety, consulting building users, acting with integrity and responsibility, exercising impartial judgement, acting responsibly with matters that may affect others, providing aftercare, fairness and evidence. 
• A duty towards commissioning services: meaning acting honestly, being transparent, demonstrating competence in carrying out work, being diligent and knowledgable ensuring services are kept up to date, providing a duty of care and accountability, communicate and be open to sharing information as required, maintain confidentiality of client information, manage risk appropriately by carrying appropriate PI insurance, and dealing with disputes and complaints promptly and appropriately. 
• A duty towards those in the workplace: meaning showing respect to those in the immediate and wider workplace including their backgrounds and views, encouraging equity, diversity and inclusion, adopting good employment practices, providing training and learning opportunities to staff, promoting a healthy work environment and company culture, promoting collaboration and protecting whistleblowing. 
• A duty towards the profession: meaning maintaining the reputation and value of the profession, promoting high standards, contributing to knowledge through research and innovation, reporting misconduct
• And a duty to oneself: meaning identifying your principles and values, acting with integrity, truthfulness and accountability at all times, looking after your own wellbeing and mental health, evaluating and reflecting on yourself, and maintaining competence. 

Now lets look at the professions and the wider industry's duties towards the Climate and Wider World in more depth:

In order to meet the climate and sustainability requirements, Planning Policy has been updated by revising the National Planning Policy Framework and launching the new National Model Design Code which refer to the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals and the Climate Change Act and is a toolkit to inform local planning authorities on design issues. In addition to these the Future Homes Standard and Future Building Standard have also been introduced. Another new legislation coming into force is Biodiversity Net Gain which has become mandatory as part of the Local Authority’s sustainability agenda alongside the updates to Approved Documents L & F. Although great changes towards the right direction, it is felt that they are still not being implemented quickly enough.

Architects should, therefore, aim to deliver beyond the current regulations in order to future proof clients projects and reduce overall emissions and impacts to the environment. In addition to meeting planning and building regulations, architects are also bound by their code of conduct set out by the ARB and RIBA to consider the environmental impact of the profession. 

ARB have set out some Competence Guidelines when it comes to Sustainability, which state:

1. When it comes to Ethics and professionalism

The architect should:

SA1. Understand the principles of climate science so that they are able to make informed and responsible decisions with regards to actions and inaction that may affect this issue.

SA2. Understand the impact that resilience, mitigation and adaptation of the built environment can have on climate change, and do everything within their remit to minimise the negative impact their practice has on the environment.

SA3. Advocate for sustainable or regenerative design solutions and ethical sourcing throughout the life cycle of each project.

SA4. Maintain their knowledge of the key legislation, regulations and policies in respect of the climate and ecological crisis.

SA5. Share building performance data to raise industry awareness and encourage the growth of a zero-carbon culture.

2. With regards to Sustainable design principles

The architect should:

SB1. Understand the relationships between buildings, settlements, communities and a changing climate, and be able to design low- and zero-carbon buildings.

SB2. Understand social sustainability and social value as tools to measure the impact of development upon communities.

SB3. Be able to design to preserve, integrate and enhance natural habitats which encourage biodiversity and support access to green infrastructure space for communities.

SB4. Be able to apply the design principles of:

• retrofit first

• fabric first and thermal/energy efficiency

• passive design

• daylighting

• appropriate renewable technologies

• life cycle assessment and costing

• whole-life carbon and low embodied carbon design

• water cycle, demand, supply and reduction.

3. Then when it comes to the Environmental and building physics

The architect should:

SC1. Understand the environmental science relating to temperature, humidity, sound and lighting.

SC2. Understand the principles of human comfort and indoor air quality in relation to energy use.

SC3. Be able to calculate predicted operational and embodied energy use and carbon emissions.

SC4. Be able to carry out post-occupancy evaluations/building performance evaluations to understand performance gaps and inform future projects.

4. And lastly, with regards to Construction technology

The architect should:

SD1. Understand the embodied carbon and resource implications of different methods of construction and performance of building materials.

SD2. Be able to produce adequate detailed designs to allow for airtightness and thermal integrity.

SD3. Understand the performance of major energy demanding building technologies (ventilation, heating, cooling, hot water and lighting), and the use of onsite renewable energy generation or further offsetting to achieve decarbonisation.

SD4. Understand and be able to apply circular economy principles to the design life cycle of each project.

Now when it comes to architecture practices as a whole, if they are an RIBA Chartered Practice, they are expected to have an environmental management policy in place. To assist with this, the RIBA has introduced the Sustainable Business Development Toolkit for practices to use and support them in their ethical and social considerations. The toolkit aligns with the Architects Declare guidance in practices understanding their impact on the environment, optimise and improve efficiency, consider how their financial and business decisions use ethical credentials and fair trade, determine the practices influence and sustainability considerations in their designs and carry out annual assessments of their environmental policy. Such assessments provide practices with a clear framework to progress against environmental goals. 

Some key initiatives architects can refer to include the RIBA 2030 Challenge, LETI and the Climate Framework. 

So that covers the professions and industry’s duties towards the climate and wider world, now lets look at their duties towards Society in more depth:

The architects duty to society is one of the most heavily regulated duties which include planning and housing acts, building regulations and the health and safety executive all imposing restrictions, policy and guidance on what can be built in the UK which take into account the wellbeing of future users of buildings and the wider community.

Under the ARB Code of Conduct, architects are expected to act with Integrity at all times including to their duty towards society by acting impartially and avoiding conflicts of interest. Also acting with competence through life-long learning, research, training and practice for the benefit of the public interest. The most specific standard in the code regarding the architects duty towards society is the one referring to community and society whereby an architect is to have proper concern and due regard for the effect that their professional activities and completed projects may have on users, the local community and society. The Code also requires architects to have due regard of equity, diversity and inclusion when handling complaints, insurance and whistleblowing. 

The RIBA, together with a number of other organisations, have signed up to support the UN Global Compact and incorporate their principles and Sustainable Development Goals into their organisational strategy, culture and daily operations championing ethical practice within business. 

Some suggestions for the architectural profession to better engage with the ethical considerations raised by the Sustainable Development Goals with regards to society, include:

• Supporting and protecting human rights 
• Supporting fair and ethical labour practices
• Supporting greater environmental responsibility
• And working against corruption    

Practices should, therefore, develop a strategy or policy addressing these considerations and committing to it in writing so it can be referred to and relied on. 

In terms of the industry’s and local authority duties, the UK planning system requires projects to go through a public consultation process to better inform developments by receiving feedback from the people/community who will actually be using it providing insights into place protection, safety, accessibility, area improvements, required facilities and so on.

Architects on public sector projects specifically, will need to demonstrate social value created by their projects through provision of jobs and investment in the area, delivering wellbeing by the design, involving communities in the construction process, designing alongside the community and use of local building materials. To further aid architects with social value, the Social Value Toolkit for Architecture was developed to simplify the demonstration and evaluation of social value benefits in public policy and procurement. Social value should be measured both before and after project completion to provide a baseline of data for future use and also will most likely improve the practices relationship with the client. Regeneration projects are one of the most ethically charged contexts for architects due to the level of complexity involved in responding sensitively to an existing community and at the same time following the clients brief and requirements. Therefore, being familiar with the council’s housing targets will help the architect understand decisions and advice coming from local councillors and planning officers, who may favour more transformative schemes where the potential for meeting housing targets is best met. And the architect must be able to transparently provide evidence behind design decisions taken throughout the development cycle to demonstrate they have considered all local authority requirements. 

One of the important ethical aspects to be considered with regards to society, is Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. The RIBA sets specific standards within the Code of Conduct with regards to architects promoting and improving equality, diversity and inclusion in the built environment. 

In order to embed EDI within projects, it is suggested that architects:

• consider existing inequalities and project impact
• if the project will have a negative impact on the community architects should consider potentially declining it  
• Be mindful of their power and responsibility 
• Question assumptions and be aware of unconscious bias
• Call out lack of diversity
• Create a diverse internal team 
• Partner with diverse firms 
• Involve the community
• Embed social value
• Adopting a universal design and ensuring architects are designing to varying levels of ability and disability
• Evaluate project outcomes by carrying out post-occupancy evaluations 

Now when it comes to the wellbeing of society, architects have an ethical responsibility in ensuring end users of buildings can enjoy a healthy environment that supports their wellbeing. As part of the architect’s ethical responsibility towards society’s wellbeing, the RIBA has set out a number of principles within their Sustainable Outcomes Guide to be achieved through all RIBA Stages. These include:

• Providing spaces with strong visual connection to outside.
• Providing responsive local controls, such as opening windows
• Designing spaces with appropriate occupant density for activity.
• Designing spaces with good indoor air quality.
• Designing spaces with good indoor daylighting, lighting and glare control.
• Designing spaces to adaptive thermal comfort standards.
• Designing spaces with good acoustic comfort.
• Designing spaces that are inclusive and universally accessible.
• Prioritising active circulation routes, such as stairs
• Providing indoor and outdoor planted spaces. 

All these metrics, can be incorporated and better understood by architects carrying out post-occupancy evaluations at the end of their projects which can assist in better informing future projects and their value to society. Refer to Episode 73 for the benefits and more detailed information of undertaking post-occupancy evaluations. 

So once Post-Occupancy Evaluation has been carried out, there is an expectation that the information obtained will be widely shared to benefit the building users, project team and the rest of the industry. Making this knowledge available will increase the learning and critical engagement across the built environment profession. Some samples of Post-Occupancy Evaluation surveys can be found in the RIBA’s Post-occupancy evaluation and building performance evaluation primer. 

The key items to keep in mind with regards to the architects duties to society is considering how the architects work will serve the Public Interest, ensuring that both projects and the practice remain inclusive and adopting evidence-informed designs through the incorporation of Post-Occupancy Evaluations. 

To remain relevant and create a stronger standing within society, the architect should seek to understand and engage those affected by their design work and regularly revisit completed buildings to ensure occupant wellbeing is prioritised within healthy, safe environments that meet their desired purpose and ensuring equality of access.

Now lets move onto the professions and industry’s duties towards the client and commissioning services in more depth:

The most widely recognised ethical duty, is that of the architect to their client. There are a few issues that arise with this ethical duty, in that the architect has conflicting duties to the client and the other aspects we have outlined previously, as well as that in some instances, the nature of the duty to the client is misunderstood and misrepresented. 

So how can this duty be balanced in the wider context of ethical decision making?

Firstly, we have the architects legal obligations to their client which is set within their written appointment contract, they key piece of legislation underpinning the ethical duty to the client is the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 which states that ‘the supplier will carry out the service with reasonable care and skill’. 

The ARB and RIBA Codes of Conduct, build on the legal obligations of the architect and outline the duties an architect holds in respect of their client. The Codes are also useful for clients to assist them in understanding the ethical duty owed by the architect. 

Looking at the ARB Code when it comes to the architects ethical duties to their clients, they are expected to act with honesty, integrity, competence, conscientiousness, trustworthiness, dealing with complaints and showing respect. Now, looking at the RIBA Code, it provide a more detailed form to the architects ethical duty to their clients in acting impartially, handling conflicts appropriately, handling clients money with caution, keeping the client informed and keeping accurate records.  

So when it comes to the architects ethical duty to their client and wider community, their ethical duty to their client is not discharged by doing exactly as the client requests but by applying their professional knowledge and expertise to listen to the clients requests, understand their motivations and provide suggestions which serve the clients real and long-term interests as far as possible whilst also at the same time respecting other ethical duties and imperatives. The architect’s ethical duty must also then extend to informing the client of the consequences of their actions, and advocating for a better possible approach.

Depending on the type of client, architects will need to respond accordingly in acting ethically both towards their client and other respective ethical duties. 

When it comes to inexperienced lay clients, the architect is commissioned by a private client and has an ethical duty to challenge the brief and the client’s requests to better understand their motivations and aims. The architect then has a duty to apply their impartial, professional knowledge – including their knowledge of other competing ethical duties, such as that to the environment or to the local community – to inform and advise the client of the impacts of their requests and possible, preferable alternatives in the circumstances.

Now when it comes to experienced clients, a frequent challenge is the need to keep costs down – through fees, design constraints and the specification of products and materials. While the architect ought to respect their client’s requests, they should not leave a brief unchallenged if it compromises the client’s own interests or unduly impinges on other ethical concerns, such as sustainability and societal wellbeing. Which is often the concern and challenge from experienced clients if they themselves don’t act ethically, in such circumstances the architect can better inform their clients about their options on a project and encourage them to make the most sustainable and ethical decisions. Therefore, the architect has a strong ethical duty to reflect on a proposal, apply independent thought and scrutiny and advocate for a better approach aimed at better outcomes for the client and other stakeholders.  

If the client is a public sector client, this can often attract greater scrutiny of an architect’s work as they have an ethical duty to their client and the community. The architect, therefore, has a strong ethical duty to reflect on the proposal, apply independent thought and scrutiny, and advocate for a better approach aimed at a balanced approach to the various competing interests and stakeholders, and also giving greater consideration to the interests of the local community and society given the project will most probably be fully or partially funded by public money. The architect should, therefore, take ethical action to:

• Promote and uphold transparency on public projects
• Establish who is authorised to give instructions on the project
• Ensure that the public has a voice throughout the project

If architects get and instance of probono clients, they should assess whether it is ethical to accept appointment without fees, and if they do accept it, what will be their ethical duty to that client? So when deciding whether to accept such a project, the architect’s ethical decision-making process will involve consideration of who the client is, the proposed project, the architect’s role in that project, the funds available and their provenance, the overall project budget and timeframes. Essentially carrying out an assessment of the means, motivations and merits of the client and project. All of this is sets great concerns within the profession that working for free undermines the value of the profession, negatively impacts equity and diversity within the profession and can even leads to disempowerment of the recipient as they are not as comfortable to challenge designs and project proposals as fee-paying clients. Perhaps the most ethical approach in such circumstances is to accept to undertake pro bono on a highly specific project, for a short period of time, for a client without the means to otherwise start and progress a project which has some merit in terms of public interest, each instance, however, should be carefully evaluated in determining if its appropriate to accept or not. Even with pro bono work, the architect has a duty to challenge the brief, to apply independent knowledge and expertise, to weigh up the competing interests and to advise on and advocate for better solutions and outcomes. The additional ethical concern on pro bono work is ensuring the client feels sufficiently empowered to engage and feel able to articulate their aims and motivations. Even with such work, a written appointment should still be in place articulating the roles and responsibilities and deliverables of the project. Designing for free, does not absolve the architect of their duties and obligations. 

Most client related ethical issues that arise, can be largely avoided by reference to the law, codes of conduct and an ethical decision-making framework or process whereby an architect weighs up the different and competing interests on any given project, interrogates the proposal or brief, fully understands the aims and motivations of the client, applies their own independent and impartial knowledge and expertise, and advises on and advocates for a better approach aimed at better outcomes. Some of the most common ethical issues that may arise between an architect and client, include:

• Failure of the architect to inform the client of a potential conflicts of interest 
• Failure of the architect to keep the client fully informed, appraised of progress and aware of any potential or actual changes to or impacts on time, cost and quality.
• Failure to follow up with clients on completed or previous projects to carry out a post-occupancy evaluation to gather lessons learnt from the process and use them to improve their service. There is scope to better discharge the ethical duty towards clients through more follow up, more learning, more development and more collaboration within the profession.

So to sum up what I discussed today:

• Ethical decisions with regard to architectural practice are informed by legislation and regulations, and the codes of practice and conduct.
• The key ethical duties to be followed include A duty towards the wider world, A duty towards society and end users, A duty towards commissioning services, A duty towards those in the workplace, A duty towards those in the profession and A duty towards to oneself
• A duty towards the wider world: is a duty towards the environment, the use of resources considering embodied carbon, future-proofing, accounting and feedback through monitoring and evaluating in-use performance
• A duty towards society and end users: is an ethical duty in considering public interest, community engagement, social value, impact of projects on society, heritage value, health and safety, consulting building users, acting with integrity and responsibility, exercising impartial judgement, acting responsibly with matters that may affect others, providing aftercare, fairness and evidence. 
• A duty towards commissioning services: is acting honestly, being transparent, demonstrating competence in carrying out work, being diligent and knowledgable ensuring services are kept up to date, providing a duty of care and accountability, communicate and be open to sharing information as required, maintain confidentiality of client information, manage risk appropriately by carrying appropriate PI insurance, and dealing with disputes and complaints promptly and appropriately.