Welcoming the new RSUA Council
24 June 2024
The new 2024/25 RSUA Council met for the first time today under the chairmanship of recently elected President John Lavery. RSUA Council is the governing body for the organisation and acts as the board of directors and board of trustees of the charity.
The President welcomed newly elected members and thanked members who stepped down at the AGM for their service to the Council. Read more on the AGM here.
Council Members elected honorary officers for the coming year. James Grieve was elected as Vice President. Joan McCoy was elected as Honorary Secretary and the President thanked Kari Simpson who resigned from the role having served for four years. Martin Hare was elected to continue his role as Honorary Treasurer. The final honorary officer is Paul McAlister, who automatically takes this position as Immediate Past President.
Representation on Council was reviewed taking account of Council members’ geographic base, gender and practice type/size. It was agreed that gender balance and diversity of practice type was good but that steps should be taken to increase representation from outside Belfast. The Council agreed to co-opt Stephen Salley and other suggestions were sought.
Fintan Dalton, winner of the 2023 Alan Barnes travel scholarship, presented a review of his trip to Japan. A travelogue will be printed in Perspective and Fintan’s film of the trip will be shared with members.
Each Council meeting includes a debate. The proposition for this debate was “Deep retrofit is a waste of money we need to focus minds on decarbonising heat”. Olivia Laughlin and Hana Stolcovah led the debate.
RIBA’s proposed increase in fees for 2025 was discussed. RSUA agreed to support the proposed increase on the proviso that a fundamental review of the RIBA Chartered Practice Scheme was undertaken to explore how the Scheme would promote and reward high levels of individual membership within a practice.
Ciarán Fox, RSUA Director, sought initial input to the RSUA’s Four-Year plan 2025 – 2029. All RSUA members are invited to send suggestions for inclusion in the plan.
Council discussed potential candidates for RSUA Honorary Membership. A decision on who to offer Honorary Membership to will be taken when the Council next meet on 9 September 2024.
The full list of 2024/25 Council Members can be viewed here.
