Checking in with four architects on both sides of the pond who have gone through the application process
It’s two years since the landmark mutual recognition agreement (MRA) was enacted by the Architects Registration Board (ARB), and its US counterpart the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB). Though others followed, this was the first MRA to be signed by ARB, which, pre-Brexit, had been prevented from entering into such agreements.
The MRA allows both sides to accept applications from architects who want to take their professional qualifications across the Atlantic to become registered practitioners.
'Previously, if one architect moved between the UK and the US they could not call themselves as an architect despite the all-nighters in the studio, the bleary-eyed crits, the years of interning and the final hurdle of licensing exams,' Catherine Clark, RIBA's Director of Strategic Development, North America, says.
'This issue has been a practical and philosophical issue for the international community of architects working abroad. Without a license being recognised, it limits what jobs you can apply for, its caps remuneration and can negatively impact career and business growth.'
So now, two years on, it provides an opportunity to check in with architects who have made moves on both sides of the pond, to reflect on their experiences of application, and what has happened since they became accredited.
How architects went from the UK to the US
Scottish-born Steven McKay recalls that as soon as the MRA was live, he applied as quickly as possible and believes he was one of the first to complete the process. He is CEO of DLR Group, which has offices across the US, and he had done his research beforehand.
Licensing of architects is administered at state level in the US and not all states were participating in the MRA. Others were participating but did not have a process ready to go, he discovered. Using the NCARB licensing process, McKay says he applied to Iowa state, where DLR has an office and he has family connections, as soon as he knew NCARB had opened his file and ARB had verified his UK registration.
'Within 24 hours I had my Iowa license and as I sat at the airport heading to the AIA national conference in San Francisco I applied for full AIA membership,' he recalls. 'By the time I landed I had that too. The whole thing took less than seven working days.'
He says having dual licenses and respective professional memberships has clear advantages, even for the CEO of a large US-based design group: 'Most of my global clients know either RIBA or AIA, and to be part of both brings a certain expected expertise with it. RIBA is more recognised globally for the application of design, and for non-US clients of scale this is important even as a US firm. The MRA simply opens more doors.'
Elsewhere, Olivia Cashman, who says she regards getting her ARB registration as one of the biggest achievements of her life, found herself unable to be called an architect in her role as architect and project manager at Spiezle Architectural Group in Pennsylvania. She had been following the more protracted NCARB Foreign Architect Path towards a US licence, but with the MRA in place she was able to apply in June 2024 and receive her license just two months later.
'Obtaining my license means I can call myself an architect again after eight years, which has had a huge impact on me both personally and professionally,' she says. 'I didn’t lose my UK license, but not being able to call myself an architect here did hold me back. Qualifying as an architect puts you at the head of the team, and without that I felt like the only one who knew I deserved to be there, but couldn’t be.'
Read more about how architects can sign up to the scheme.
How architects went from the US to the UK
On the flipside, for US architects working in the UK, the MRA was able to streamline what for some seemed to be a long and tortuous process.
Tiffany Abernathy had taken her Part 3, then the only option for international students to gain Part 3 without Parts 1 and 2 as prerequisites.
With the MRA in place, Tiffany applied for a reciprocal licence in Indiana in July 2023 (she was already licensed in New York where the MRA was not recognised) and then requested that NCARB transmit her record to ARB. She subsequently learnt from ARB that she was eligible to apply under the MRA and need not complete the ARB assessment to register, avoiding the Prescribed Examination process.
Tiffany, who has served as Director of US Projects at John Simpson Architects since 2014 and runs her own multi-disciplinary design consultancy Forms Qua Objects, says finally being dual qualified has given her a sense of calm after what seemed like years of fighting in the trenches.
Meanwhile, Teva Hesse, Design Director at 4D Studio Architects, had been registered for many years both in his home state of New Mexico and in Denmark. Pre-Brexit, there was a route for EU-licensed architects to join the ARB register, but as he was a US citizen rather than an EU national, this route was closed.
Hesse is not alone among architects who think the MRA is “the only good thing to have come out of Brexit”, and he recalls following discussions between NCARB and ARB closely and being ready to engage with the process as soon as the MRA was ratified. He did not find the requirements challenging because he had extensive UK work experience.
“It was a personal priority as opposed to a professional necessity,” Hesse says. “I can finally dispense with titles such as ‘project leader’ or ‘director’, despite having worked as an ‘architect’ for a very long time. Holding the title gives clarity and confidence to clients as well as the full set of obligations and responsibilities that come with professional registration.”
Thanks to Steven McKay, Olivia Cashman, Tiffany Abernathy and Teva Hesse; and the American Institute of Architects.
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