Partner Article

Are building costs burying future North East architects?

Architecture is one of the most extensive courses to study at university. So, as the latest intake of building design students shake-off their first semester hangovers, it should come with no surprise that with this year’s increase in tuition fees our industry is starting to wake-up to a worrying reality.

Earlier this year, a report by the UK Architectural Education Review Group issued a stark warning that could potentially put the North East’s future pool of architectural talent at risk.

The report due to be sent to Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries, Ed Vaizey, by the end of the year, highlighted what we’ve known for some time: that the number of students entering the profession in the future will be dictated by his or her willingness to shoulder high levels of personal debt.

The Education Review Group called this issue an ‘artificial barrier’ that will ‘inhibit widening participation’. In reality, the financial pressures of going to university could potentially prevent our talented architects of tomorrow from pursuing their design ambitions altogether.

The pursuit of becoming an architect has not changed now for more than fifty years. The extended three-part system, which takes seven years to complete, is still based on the model that emerged from the RIBA Conference on Architectural Education in 1958. Could the combination of academic studies and practical experience, including five years training at university and a minimum of two years in an industry environment, now be out of date?

It’s no secret that this academic year marks the first time that students face paying university tuition fees of up to £9k a year. This means that if you’re a student who’s just started your RIBA Part 1, then by the time that you complete your RIBA Part 3 in 2020, it’s likely that you can expect to leave university with a debt of around £100k.

For any undergraduate considering applying to study architecture at university, seeing this figure of debt must naturally make them think twice. And here lies the issue.

Earlier this year, Connor Newton, a 17-year-old A-Level student from my old school at St Thomas Moore Catholic School in Blaydon, contacted me for advice. As an undergraduate considering his options, he was at a bit of crossroads. He was determined to do whatever it took to pursue a career in architecture – just without going to university. As a highly motivated student with a real willingness to follow his dream, I respected the fact that going to university for Connor was not an affordable option for him. And who would blame him?

Having spent this summer on a six-week internship with the practice, shadowing one of our project architects, it turned out that Connor has real potential to flourish in the profession - if given the chance. After sitting down with Connor’s family and the school, we’ve invited him to join Gradon Architecture as an apprentice architectural technologist assistant.

Connor’s apprenticeship will coincide with his final year A-Level studies. We then hope to continue to support his academic needs by helping him through university, whilst also developing his natural ability for the job by providing him with the practical experience he needs.

We’re delighted to be adding more local architectural talent to our growing team having recently employed graduates from Newcastle and Northumbria universities. But on reflection, how many other talented would-be architects are there in the region who face missing out on pursuing their dream because of the financial burdens they are now under?

Figures released by UCAS last summer showed that the number of students applying to study architecture in 2013 had dropped by 12% to 26,821 applicants – a trend replicated across other building and planning courses.

It’s no secret that there are fewer job opportunities in the profession than there was prior to the recession. Yet the demand for architects to shape the future places in which we live has never been so high.

Last year’s Future Homes Commission’s report on ‘Building the future homes that Britain needs’ made it quite clear that architects were essential to supporting economic growth through designing the homes, infrastructure projects and environments we need to live.

This suggests that as an industry going forward, we therefore need a wider pool of architectural talent to choose from who have the right balance of academic and practical skills to deliver architecture in the real world.

It’s up to practices like ourselves on the ground to work in partnership with the RIBA and our educational institutions to create a more flexible route into the profession which reflects the modern world in which we live.

Architecture should be an attractive and attainable proposition for our young people, giving the likes of undergraduates like Connor the chance to fulfill their potential.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Graham McDarby, design director at Gradon Architecture .