42 New architects licensed
The Architects Registration Council (ARC) has held its 17th induction ceremony during which 42 new architects were accepted onto the register of the council after they had passed the council’s Professional Practice Examination (PPE).
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The ceremony bridges the academic and professional life of every architect. It climaxes six years of academic qualification at the university, a minimum of two years of post-qualification coaching and apprenticeship under a qualified senior architect, structured seminars and tutorials, as well as a professional examination, with a minimum pass mark of 60 per cent to gain licensing status.
Mr Theophilus Kofi Attipoe was adjudged the overall best candidate, with Mr Jonathan Ebo Quaye and Ms Gloria Baaba Anim placing second and third respectively.
Induction
At the induction ceremony held on the theme: “Architecture, the critical tool for national development,” the council described the event as reinforcing its commitment to securing a high quality professional training and conduct of architects; equipping them to provide avant-garde services to clients; ensuring that the architectural profession maintained its integrity and businesses of practitioners developed and grew.
The Registrar of ARC, Mrs Stella N. D. Arthiabah, said the annual ceremony reminded the council members of how important their work was as policy makers, regulators and promoters of the architectural profession such as developing code of conduct, ensuring high quality professional training and crafting the right regime for architects to deliver a healthy, safe and sustainable built environment.
Country’s identity
Mrs Arthiabah argued that a nation’s identity and international reputation was judged among other factors by its advancement in technology and good infrastructure, hence the theme to reflect how architecture was a critical tool for growth, sustainability and nation branding.
Mrs Arthiabah bemoaned the influx of foreign consultants, contractors and labourers in the local industry who executed projects undercover without satisfying the legal and regulatory requirement.
She, therefore, called on the government and stakeholders to take stringent measures to curb what she called a “form of ‘galamsey’ in the construction industry”.
Sector ministry
The Deputy Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Eugene Boakye Antwi, who represented the Sector Minister, Mr Samuel Atta Akyea, as Special Guest, said as Ghana marked 60 years as a nation, it still faced a huge housing deficit of 1.7 million, with most housing units not within the reach of ordinary Ghanaians.
He, therefore, tasked the new architects to produce housing designs that reflected affordable housing concepts, using local building materials and sustainable designs that were energy efficient with rainwater-harvesting facilities to ensure constant supply of water for both domestic and industrial purposes.
Mr Antwi observed that as the government’s policy of one-district, one-factory had started in earnest, it was expected that the ARC, the Rural Housing Department and the Architectural Engineering Services would be ready to provide technical support towards its successful implementation.
Commendation
The President of the Ghana Institute of Architects (GIA), Mr Joseph E. Hayford, congratulated the new architects and asked them to inculcate the habit of truth and excellence in the line of duty.
