Architects Registration Council Swears in New Architects

The Architects Registration Council (ARC) has held its 19th induction ceremony in Accra, admitting 29 new architects onto the standing register of the Council.

Held under the theme: 'Regulating the practice of architecture - The future', the induction 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 and finally professional examination, with a minimum pass mark of 60 per cent to gain state licensing.

Mrs Stella N.D. Arthiabah, Registrar of the ARC, Arc. congratulated the inductees for what she described as reaping the fruit of academic exploits in architecture and at the same time putting on a new cloak of professional responsibility to the benefit of society.

"This annual gathering is very significant on the Council's calendar, as it exudes the quality and growth of the body of architecture and the high standard of professional skill in the country," she reiterated.

In a bid to further extend services to the doorstep of practitioners and the public, Mrs Arthiabah stated that two new offices have been opened at Labone in Accra and Adum in Kumasi.

Aside regulating the practice of architecture these two new offices, she added, would run the ongoing registration, categorisation and continuous technical development services for architectural technologists, technicians and draughtsmen through the National Board of Control (NBoC), set up under the auspices of the Ministry of Works and Housing to streamline all activities within the architecture practice.

Overall Best Candidate was Kafui Kweku Anyomdie with Emefa Sedinam Ama Homenya and Abdel-Jawad Abbas occupying the second and third positions respectively.

In a goodwill message, President of the Ghana Institute of Architects (GIA), Arc. Richard Nii Dadey observed that new entrants in architecture including the inductees were special as they are entering the professional world at a time it behooves the Ghanaian architect to be 'awake' and not restrict him/herself.

"In these changing times if you remain in that little niche you will eventually become irrelevant, the way forward is to evolve yourself from "end to end," he advised.

In a valedictory address, Mr Anyomdie urged his fellow inductees to take up the great challenge by accepting the mantle of responsibility with excellence and dedication to bring people together and move the nation forward.

Guest speaker Ing. Charles Darku, Managing Director, Tullow Oil, Ghana asked the inductees to be aware of the responsibilities ahead.

The Special Guest of Honour, Samuel Atta Akyea, Minister of Works and Housing in his keynote address noted that as young professionals in this era of rapid urbanisation, the nation was counting on them to produce innovative concepts and designs that would address the nation's urbanisation challenges.

He emphasised the distinct function of the ARC as a government regulatory body from that of the GIA as a professional association of architects.

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