News ACANews SPRING 2026
ACA is breaking new ground … In May 2024, the ACA launched the Principal Designer Register in order to support our members by providing a platform to help demonstrate competence and credentials in adopting the Principal Designer role. Additionally, the register provides guidance, templates and creative assets with further resources under development. More recently, following both member and industry feedback, we have refined our Principal Designer Register to incorporate an expanded registration criteria. Previously, registration was only open to ACA Members meaning the requirement to be either Director or Partner of your practice however now, members have the opportunity to register their experienced architects or other suitably qualified and experienced persons within their practice. The requirement being to guarantee their competence and experience, additionally, to align with industry
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guidelines and regulations our competence criteria has also been enhanced to ensure those on the register have the necessary qualifications and experience to take on the role of Principal Designer. Furthermore, the register has been expanded to accommodate Principal Designer roles for both Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 2015 and Building Regulations established by the Building Safety Act 2022; with a tick box option to select one or both. Pricing remains at a competitive annual fee of £100 per year with no joining fee and no requirement to complete CPD courses in advance of registration, however, there is the expectation registrants will undertake the CPD courses outlined in the Personal Statement of Competence to maintain their qualification in adopting the roles as well the integrity of the register. Registration is now open for our Principal Designer event on Monday 13th July at our PII partner Howden’s London Office. The afternoon session will have speakers from various practices discussing how they are navigating the challenges of the Principal Designer Role for Building Regulations. Kick off will be at 2:30pm and we will have networking drinks at 5:30pm - thank you again to Howden for kindly hosting the event. Contact the ACA Head Office to register your place.
www.principaldesigner.uk See page 15 for a Principal Designer update.
excellence in practice
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Designing Buildings, a shared open wiki page 12
From Planning in London magazine Overview of upcoming changes; the new NPPF; densifying the suburbs; speeding things up; London Emergency housing measures; Planning for growth page 25
www.acarchitects.co.uk