ARB welcomes new members to the Board

ARB welcomes new members to the Board (19/03/2008)

The Architects Registration Board (ARB) is pleased to announce that the Privy Council has appointed two new lay members to serve on the Board. Myra Kinghorn and Agnes Grunwald-Spier join the Board on 1 April 2008, and succeed Jane Rees and Philip Cunliffe who are both standing down at the end of March, having served for six years and one year respectively.

Myra Kinghorn BLib, FCA, CDir, is both a chartered accountant and chartered director. She has a wide range of experience working as an executive and non executive director. She spent some 13 years working in the accountancy profession before moving to the public sector, with a focus on the financial services environment and investor protection. She was lately Chief Executive of the Pension Protection Fund, and was Chief Executive of the Investors Compensation Scheme for more than 11 years. Myra is currently Chair of Scheme Management Committee, an independent committee of the European Payments Council, and is also a Governor of Morley college.

Agnes Grunwald-Spier BSc (Econ), MA, has been a lay magistrate since 1984. She is currently Chair of the Board of Deputies of British Jews’ Regional Assembly, which represents Jewish communities outside the M25, and is a trustee of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust. Among her other appointments, Agnes was the Home Office’s representative on the South Yorkshire Police Authority selection panels 1999-2007, and is a lay member on the General Social Care Council’s Registration and Conduct committees and NHS’s Herbal Medicines Advisory Committee.

Speaking after the appointments, Chairman Michael Starling said:

“On behalf of the Board, I extend a warm welcome to both Myra and Agnes. Their wide experience of working in the not-for-profit sector, as well as their knowledge and expertise, will greatly assist the Board in taking its work forward. I am particularly pleased because their appointments mark a positive step towards encouraging diversity.

I would also like to thank both Jane and Philip for their valuable contributions to the work of the Board.”

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Notes for Editors

ARB is the statutory body established by Parliament under the Architects Act 1997 to regulate the UK architects’ profession in the public interest. The Act requires ARB (inter alia) to:

• Maintain the Register of Architects (Section 3)

• Prescribe qualifications for entry to the Register of Architects (Section 4)

• Deal with competence to practise (Section 9)

• Issue a Code which lays down standards of professional conduct and practice (Section 13)

• Regulate use of the title “architect” and prosecute those who use it unlawfully (Section 20)

ARB has a Board of 15 members, seven of whom are architects elected by the profession. The remaining eight are members of the public appointed by the Privy Council to represent the interests of consumers and users of architectural services.

Board members serve for a term of three years. They can, if re-elected or re-appointed, serve for two consecutive terms, six years in total. A Board member who has held office for a continuous period of six years may not be elected or appointed as a member until at least three years have elapsed since he or she last held office. Board members receive an allowance of £275 per day or part thereof spent on Board business.

Ms Kinghorn succeeds Jane Rees, and will serve for a three-year term. Mrs Grunwald-Spier succeeds Philip Cunliffe, who stood down after serving for one year. The Architects Act terms this a “casual vacancy” and her term of office will therefore be for the remainder of the three-year term, i.e. two years.

Appointments to the Board are made in accordance with the Office of Commissioner for Public Appointments (OCPA) Code of Practice. All appointments are made on merit, and political activity plays no part in the selection process. However, in accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, there is a requirement for appointees’ political activity (if any declared) to be made public. Neither appointee has declared any such political activity.