ARCHITECTS REGISTRATION BOARD

THE PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT COMMITTEE

HELD AT

CLIFFORDS INN CONFERENCE CENTRE
CLIFFORDS INN
FETTER LANE
LONDON EC4A 1LD

ON

WEDNESDAY, 18 OCTOBER 2006

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Chairman:  Ms. Angela Deacon
PCC Member: Mr. Dõnal Hutchinson
PCC Member: Ms. Linda Read

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IN THE MATTER OF
MR. PATRICK ELLAH (056256D)

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STEPHEN BATTERSBY – Clerk to the Committee

JOHN WILLIAMS of BANKSIDE LAW appeared as the Board’s Solicitor

PATRICK ELLAH did not attend the Hearing, and was not represented

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(Transcribed by Harry Counsell & Co
Cliffords Inn, Fetter Lane, London EC4A 1LD
Telephone 020 7269 0370
Fascimile: 020 7831 2526

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DECISION

THE CHAIR:  The Board’s solicitor invited the Committee to consider the charges 1 a and 1 b in the alternative.  The Committee has no evidence that Mr Ellah does or does not have minimum professional indemnity insurance cover from 25 April 2006 and therefore we’ve only considered charges 1 b together with charge 1 c.

With regard to charge 1 b, standard 8 of the Code states that architects should not undertake professional work without adequate and appropriate professional indemnity cover and, in particular, 8.3 states: ‘Without limiting an architect’s duty to maintain professional indemnity cover, which is adequate and appropriate to the work the architect is undertaking, architects must maintain in any event minimum cover, in accordance with the Board’s guidelines on professional indemnity insurance, issued from time to time, and provide such evidence, in such form as the Board may require, demonstrating compliance with this standard.’  To protect the public, the Committee is of the opinion that there should be no doubt whatsoever that the appropriate professional indemnity insurance cover is in place. 

With regard to 1 c, under standard 12.4, ‘Complaints should at every stage be handled courteously, sympathetically and, where possible, in accordance with the following time scale: a) acknowledgement should be sent within 10 working days from the receipt of a complaint and; b) a response addressing the issues raised in the initial letter of complaint should be sent within 30 working days from its receipt.  All correspondence with the Architects Registration Board concerning complaints and/or compliance with the code will, where possible, be handled within the same time limits as shown above unless otherwise instructed by the Board.’ 

The Committee takes a very serious view that Mr Ellah has not provided evidence of appropriate professional indemnity cover for over two years and failed to reply to correspondence in relation to this matter from the Architects Registration Board.  We therefore find him guilty of unacceptable professional conduct contrary to section 14.1 (a) and section 14.1 (3) of the Architects Act 1997 and we suspend him for one year with immediate effect.