How do I know if a consultant is a registered architect?
The title ‘Architect’ is protected by law, so that only those who have undergone rigorous training and are fully qualified can rightly use it. Watch out for companies styling themselves as ‘architectural’ designers or similar wording as this is likely to indicate that they are not qualified Architects.
All Architects in the UK must be registered with the Architects Registration Board (ARB), with most architects in Northern Ireland taking up joint membership of RSUA and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). Many architects will also be members of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI). If an individual does not have these credentials then they may be operating unregulated, providing you with no guarantees of their ability to deliver the service you require.
You can check if a person is a joint member of RSUA and RIBA on our directory. To see the fullest list of individual chartered architects in Northern Ireland, enter BT in the postcode search field and leave the other search fields untouched. (This is not a complete list of joint RSUA/RIBA members as some architects have not given permission for their details to be published)
You can check that a person is legally entitled to practice as an architect in the UK by checking the ARB register of architects.