RIBA presidential candidates unveil manifestos as voting opens

在昨晚的公开竞选之后，RIBA下一任主席的三位候选人公布了他们的竞选宣言。

Jo Bacon, Muyiwa Oki and Sumita Singha have outlined what they would do during their two-year term if they win next month’s election - which opens for voting today - with common themes including diversity, competence and tackling the climate crisis.

Bacon, who is managing partner at Allies & Morrison and already works at RIBA both as a councillor and on the board as the member responsible for culture and events, said one of her main objectives is to bring the institution’s operations under budgetary control.

今年早些时候，RIBA宣布将裁员20人，以填补800万英镑的赤字，尽管该公司还在推进斥资2000万英镑翻修其波特兰广场66号总部的计划——该项目上月被Benedetti Architects事务所承包。

Bacon said last night that current president Simon Allford had already done much of the work in tackling the deficit, but that the next president “must bring these initiatives to fruition and ensure the institute is engaging and relevant.”

She said she had worked through three recessions during her 35-year architectural career, and her leadership of Allies & Morrison over the past decade has been a role which requires “strategic skill, empathy, collaboration and the ability to get things done”.

Asked what the RIBA could do better, she admitted the institution “haven’t been very good at communications” and that promoting its broad range of activities to members and the public was “mission critical”.

On education, Bacon said part III qualifications had become “too much of a fee earner”, and that the UK should be able to train architects in a shorter period.

And she weighed in on the current debate around the culture of architectural education in the wake of the report on abuses at the Bartlett, arguing that RIBA had a duty of care for students in validated schools and that this should be “restated and considered” in the institution’s validation committees.

All three presidential candidates require at least 60 nominees to get on the ballot, with Bacon’s including BD columnist Eleanor Jolliffe, Amin Taha, Alison Brooks, Andy von Bradsky, current RIBA board chair Jack Pringle, John McAslan and Simone de Gale.

Singha的支持者包括建筑摄影师Morley Von Sternberg, Peter Barber和另一位建筑设计专栏作家Satish Jassal。日本vs塞内加尔比分

Oki, a salaried architect who currently works at Mace, has been nominated by former RIBA presidents Alan Jones and Ben Derbyshire and 2018 presidential candidate Elsie Owusu.

The 31-year-old said in his manifesto that he wants to “speak up for the future of architects” and to steward “bold institutional reform, galvanise the architectural profession and incorporate the energy and voice of unrepresented members”.

他表示，建筑行业的基础是过度工作和薪酬过低，而人们对英国皇家建筑师协会实现变革的能力的信心正处于“历史低点”。

At last night’s hustings he said that the institution can regain its relevance among architects by raising education standards, creating a more robust code of conduct and by introducing more transparent and democratic engagement models.

“RIBA自称是建筑的集体声音，我希望看到我们的成员听到这种声音，”他说。

Oki在他的宣言中说，这个职业目前“服务于富人、特权阶层和有关系的人”，作为主席，他将“有意义地”参与和倾听学生、未来的建筑师和职业早期和中期RIBA成员的意见。

He also says that he wants the institution to be “constantly communicating” with its regional membership in the UK and internationally through quarterly town halls.

Increasing engagement with RIBA branches outside London was an agenda shared by all three candidates, along with creating better services for members and improving access to the institution’s collections using digitisation.

Singha, who is the founder of Ecologic Architects and also serves as a RIBA councillor and on the board as member responsible for education, said that she would press for a “presence” in each of the institution’s 12 UK regional branches.

She said this would energise volunteer commitment along with opportunities for members to network and meet with regional staff through exhibitions, monthly ‘drop in’ practice sessions or CPD sessions at hired venues or member offices.

She also said she wants RIBA to offer its own PI insurance with reduced premiums for those not undertaking risky work, and would lobby for a government backed insurance scheme for those working in building safety or sectors affected by climate change.

至于净零排放，她表示，她将游说获得特许执业资格，包括强制性的环境和碳排放目标，并鼓励这些做法在净零排放和改造项目中发挥作用。

She also said she will call for competency tests to be mutually recognised by professional bodies and proposed that core CPD topics be offered free to RIBA members.

On education, Singha said she will advocate for integrating into the curriculum a “recognition and redress of predominant colonialist social narratives and emphasise the critical role that diversity and inclusion plays in fostering creativity, equity and respect.”

Singha, who received an OBE for architecture in 2021, studied at the School of Architecture and Planning in New Delhi where she said she was so poor that she would sleep on the same table that was used for her studies and for eating.

She came to the UK on a scholarship to the University of Cambridge, where she was the first woman to study for an MPhil in environmental design. In 1993, at the age of 26, she set up her practice, which specialises in sustainable and community projects.

Voting for the next RIBA president opens today and will close on 26 July, with a winner due to be announced on 2 August.