GIRI encourages focus on leadership skills in new architects' code to support error reduction

The Get It Right Initiative (GIRI) has welcomed the focus on leadership to support design-stage error reduction in its response to a consultation on the new Architects Code of Conduct and Practice from the Architect’s Registration Board (ARB).

GIRI’s research indicates that five of the top 10 causes of error in construction are rooted in the design stage: late design changes, poorly communicated design information, poorly coordinated design information, inadequate attention paid in the design to construction, and poor interface management and design.

In the submission, shaped by architect and GIRI board member Gavin Pike from Bennetts Associates, GIRI encourages the ARB's proposed code to go further in recognising the role that avoidable design errors play in project and building safety risks, and calls for the code to encourage more structured approaches to identifying and preventing mistakes before construction begins.

In relation to leadership, GIRI highlights the vital role that architects play in multi-disciplinary project teams including clients, consultants, contractors and supply chains, particularly in light of the Build Safety Act duties for principal designers. GIRI welcomes the principles of integrity, honesty and openness set out in the code and encourages the ARB to clarify that these principles apply not only internally within architecture practices but “to a project and associated project team” when architects are acting in leadership roles.

Similarly, GIRI argues that the emphasis on a culture within which people are encouraged to raise concerns and report mistakes should be framed more explicitly in the context of projects rather than solely workplace settings.

GIRI also encourages the ARB to place greater emphasis on mentoring, training and supervision, highlighting that stronger professional competence helps reduce avoidable mistakes in construction.

The submission cross-references recommendations in the GIRI Design Guide to show how the guide supports the leadership role throughout the project lifecycle and the importance of embedding error reduction from the outset of a project. GIRI resources are signposted and can be logged as continuous professional development with the ARB's CPD scheme.