As the organization continues the vetting process for a new President, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has today published a new questionnaire with the three final candidates vying to replace its current leader Simon Allford.

Allford’s tenure is coming to a close, with quite a bit of controversy surrounding the election of his replacement. In May, the organization changed the rules governing that election to exclude members who joined RIBA after April 23rd from voting altogether. This led to accusations of voter suppression from the consortium of the grassroots organizers pushing RIBA to install a younger architectural worker at the top to properly address exploitation within the industry. Perhaps ironically, Allford himself recently lamented an organizational culture in which “too few of our members vote and even fewer stand.”

The three candidates each answered the same four-question prompt, which asked them first to name their top three priorities, followed by an idea of how best to support practices during the current cost of living crisis within the UK.

Muyiwa Oki, the man chosen to represent architectural workers in the UK, began by saying his priorities would be to use RIBA's existing bylaws and structure to increase transparency at all levels, coordinate with unions to increase labor equity, and push the organization to embrace the field’s “digital future.” He also said he would “champion a start-up culture” amongst practices while creating an in-house career mentorship program and work to meaningfully address the “toxic culture” staring down his constituency.

Ecologic Architects founder Sumita Singha, OBE, offered her own three-point plan in response to the prompt’s initial question, promising to deliver a more inclusive, enabling, and ethical RIBA. She also said her first priority as president would be to reduce operational costs, including insurance premiums, for practices that have felt the dual impacts of the pandemic and Brexit’s economic fallout. Singha added she would look to instill a culture of resource-sharing among members, and that a free CPD for core competencies would be included as part of her improved membership platform.

Allies and Morrison Partner Jo Bacon’s answers included a note on PII costs and competency and professional practice standards in addition to a blunt statement that “the profession is underpaid,” an issue she promises to address using her newfound position of influence.  
 
“By 2025, at the end of the next presidential term, we must have demonstrated to the public and our talent pipeline the value of being an RIBA architect as the most competent professional with the best skills to address the climate crisis, safety and quality,” the architect stated. “I will use the RIBA presidency to promote the value architects bring so that our services are more respected and paid for accordingly.”

All three candidates addressed the organization’s need to include and advocate for underrepresented communities and fight climate change as part of the prompt as well. Both Bacon and Oki referred directly to the RIBA 2030 initiative, which the former said needs to be greatly expanded, and Oki claimed needs to progress beyond the current “commit to attempt” phase plaguing the organization’s leadership.

Singha mentioned her experience founding RIBA’s influential Architects of Change forum in response to the third question, and to the final prompt, said she would lobby for a new chartered practice standard that includes a mandate for carbon targets and a renewed focus on net-zero and retrofit projects, the latter being recognized by a new special award at the end of each year. 

The trio will now be submitted to a pair of online hustings taking place today and Thursday evening. An in-person event will be held on June 27th at RIBA's soon-to-be refurbished 66 Portland Place headquarters. Information about registering for that event can be found here. Voting will commence the next day and culminate on the 26th of July, with a live announcement of the winner to follow on August 2nd.