Practical response to RIBA’s “A Skilled-Up Future”
Bridging Skills, Risk, and Realities: A Response to RIBA’s “A Skilled-Up Future”
RIBA’s recent article, “A skilled-up future: how skills, competences, and roles in architecture must evolve to meet tomorrow’s challenges” (17 September 2025), sets out a compelling vision: architects leading on sustainability, safety, technology, and client value while navigating AI disruption, climate imperatives, and multidisciplinary complexity.
The ambition is right. But for many practices—particularly busy SMEs—the reality feels very different.
Between winning work, delivering projects, and mentoring early-career staff, how much time do Associates, Directors, or Partners really have to run structured project reviews, upskill staff in sustainability, lead on building safety, and document compliance?
The RIBA article acknowledges this tension: “The largest group of workers in practice comprises architectural assistants, technologists, and apprentices… reflecting the reliance many practices have on the technical abilities that early-career professionals provide.”
It also warns that AI and automation risk displacing the very roles where much on-the-job learning traditionally happens.
So, we face a paradox: practices must skill up, manage more risk, and deliver safer, sustainable, future-ready buildings—while the training ground for those skills shrinks, and senior leaders have less time than ever to mentor directly.
Three big risks the article highlights
Safety and compliance risk
Following Grenfell and the Building Safety Act, Principal Designers must prove risk was identified, mitigated, and communicated at every stage. Failure isn’t just reputational—it’s legal and moral.Environmental risk
As the article notes, climate targets are tightening. Decisions about materials, energy, and adaptation must be recorded and evidenced, not just discussed informally.Skills and capacity risk
With only one in five practice staff being registered architects, and AI eroding some early-career learning opportunities, the profession risks losing the pipeline of competent future leaders.
Where structured QA tools help
The recent RIBA article rightly calls for “a workplace culture of continuous learning” and urges practices to “develop and maintain fit-for-purpose processes, governance, and policy documents.”
This is exactly where structured checklists, templates, and QA processes make a real difference.
For example, clear processes help ensure Principal Designer duties under the Building Safety Act are properly documented, avoiding missing Gateway evidence or potential legal exposure. They also support climate and sustainability targets, reducing the risk of poor material choices or missed carbon goals through tools like the Sustainability Compliance Review Template.
When it comes to AI and new technology adoption, structured policies such as the Digital Tools Adoption Log or AI Use Policy Template help prevent unclear workflows and close skills gaps. Similarly, to address early-career training gaps, RIBA Stage QA Checklists for each project phase provide a consistent framework that preserves knowledge and quality standards across teams.
Finally, multidisciplinary coordination becomes far smoother with tools like the Design Risk & Coordination Log, which help reduce clashes, delays, and scope gaps on complex projects.
These tools don’t replace professional judgement. Instead, they free senior staff from constantly reinventing the wheel, allowing them to focus on leadership, mentoring, and design quality rather than scrambling to remember if a fire strategy update or risk review was signed off.
Practical steps for practices
Start small: One QA checklist per RIBA stage ensures consistent reviews without overwhelming the team.
Delegate confidently: Early-career staff can run through structured logs; senior staff review outputs rather than collecting data themselves.
Record decisions as you go: Gateway evidence, climate metrics, and design risks should be logged live, not at the end.
Use logs for mentoring: Reviewing a checklist with a Part 2 assistant turns process into a learning moment.
Standardise across projects: A single template set reduces errors and avoids “reinventing QA” on each job.
The bigger picture
RIBA’s vision is clear: architects must lead on sustainability, safety, digital transformation, and whole-life value. But leadership needs systems as well as skills.
Without simple, standardised processes, practices risk:
Project reviews slipping through the cracks,
Skills developing unevenly,
Compliance gaps emerging under tighter regulation.
Structured templates aren’t bureaucracy for its own sake. They create space for creativity, mentoring, and innovation by reducing the mental load of remembering every requirement across safety, environment, and client value.
The RIBA article paints a picture of a future-ready, upskilled profession. To get there, practices need realistic tools that fit into busy project life. Structured checklists and QA templates give practices a practical way to:
Embed compliance and sustainability,
Train the next generation on real projects,
Free up leaders to lead—without sacrificing risk management or project quality.
As the article says: “Ongoing and responsive skills development is the key to unlocking a prosperous future for the profession.”
Checklists aren’t the future by themselves—but they might just buy us the time and consistency we need to build it.
👉 Browse our templates today and take the first step toward safer, higher-quality architecture.