register noun 1 SA the register of architects the Registrar must keep, beside a second register of architectural businesses. 2 NT the Register, which the Registrar must make available for public inspection on the website of the Board or Agency.
Each state and territory board keeps a register of architects, and in most of them it can be searched online. In several jurisdictions the same search shows whether a company or partnership is approved, registered or licensed, not only whether a person is registered.
General informationGeneral information about the public registers of architects, not advice about any person or business. The register kept by the board in the relevant state or territory is the official record.
Where each register can be read
- Victoria
- The Architects Registration Board of Victoria’s Register of Architects shows whether an individual is registered and whether a company or partnership is approved. The Board also keeps an Architects Disciplinary Register, listed beside it on its page for people working with an architect.
- South Australia
- The Act requires two registers, one of architects and one of architectural businesses. Both must be open for inspection at the Registrar’s office during ordinary hours, and the registers or extracts of them must be published on the internet. A copy of any part can be had for the prescribed fee.
- Western Australia
- The Board’s home page has a Search Register function covering registered individuals and licensed corporations; the Board’s office can also be contacted.
- Northern Territory
- The Board’s site lists current registrations. Under the Act the Register must be on the Board’s or Agency’s website, may be inspected during business hours, and a copy of part of it can be requested.
- Tasmania
- The Board of Architects of Tasmania publishes one list of registered architects and another of registered architectural firms. Under the Act the register is open for inspection at the Board’s office, and the Registrar may also publish the registered number, name and address of every architect in the Gazette.
- New South Wales
- The title belongs to people on the NSW Register of Architects, and the Board’s site carries a “Find an architect” link.
- ACT and Queensland
- The sources behind this guide do not describe how these registers are searched. ACT Planning and the Board of Architects of Queensland are the places to ask.
What an entry holds
Tasmania’s Act lists what its register contains for each architect: their name and business or other address, the class of registration and any conditions on it, and, for a person registered on a qualification, the date and description of that qualification. The Registrar amends an entry on learning that something in it has changed.
Architects themselves can show their status too. In Victoria the Board issues no commemorative certificate, but an architect can generate one confirming their registration through the Board’s portal, or ask for a certified extract of the register, which may take up to 10 business days and includes the history of the registration.
The register is there for the public. South Australia’s Board says registration means an architect has the qualifications and experience for the work and is accountable for both conduct and competence, and that the community is entitled to services at a professional level from a registered architect or architectural business.
Reading an entry: South Australia’s marks
South Australia’s search page explains what its entries can carry, which shows how much a register holds beyond a name.
A registration number with an “L”
Limited Registration: the person is registered as an architect, but conditions limit their practice in South Australia.
A registration number with a “D”
A finding of unprofessional conduct has been made against the architect, and their registration carries conditions as a result.
Non-practising
The Board has exempted the architect from holding professional indemnity insurance, and in return they may not take part in providing any service, employment or role for fee or reward connected with architectural practice. The Board gives retirement, extended leave, unemployment and practising overseas or interstate as examples.
The Board suggests including the category of registration in a search where it is known. Registered architects and architectural businesses must tell the Registrar of a change to their register details within one month.
An entry is as current as its renewal
A register shows who was registered when it was last updated, and registrations have to be kept up. The sources behind this guide give the renewal rules for four jurisdictions, each in its own terms.
| Jurisdiction | What the source says |
|---|---|
| Victoria | Practising architects renew every year, and so do approved companies and partnerships; renewal fees are due by 30 June. |
| Western Australia | The registration year runs from 1 July to 30 June, with fees due by 30 September. An architect or licensed corporation that has not paid by then is removed from the register. |
| Tasmania | Every architect must pay the year’s registration fee on or before 31 January. |
| ACT | A registration must be valid whenever architectural services are provided; renewing after it has expired means paying an application fee. |
Changes to the register also run the other way. In Tasmania, if a registration is cancelled, the Registrar must remove the person’s name. In the Northern Territory a registered architect must tell the Board in writing of a change to their register details within 28 days.
If the name is not there
A name missing from a register is information too. The Architects Board of Western Australia says that if the person someone has been dealing with cannot be found on its register, the Board can be told, and where the title may have been misused it can investigate. South Australia’s Board offers the same two routes: search the register, or contact its office to talk the question through.
See alsothe protected words; misusing the title, and complaints; the path to registration.