The President of the RIAS

President's Q and A

In the August 2011 e-bulletin we asked members if they wanted to put a question to our new President. The response, largely from Past Presidents, is a set of question which are wide ranging and coming as they do from a group of unimpeachable experts, appropriately challenging for the Incorporation's new President, Sholto Humphries who, coming up for five months into the role, is well aware of the challenges and opportunities it brings.

Q1 From David Dunbar PPRIAS

"How are you finding the role of President and is it what you expected"

A1 "Having served as the Convenor of the Practice Committee and for several terms on RIAS Council, I knew from watching and listening to my predecessors that the job would be fairly time and labour intensive. It is demanding. You really have to have understanding business partners to take it on. Often it means two or three days per week at HQ or out and about in the Chapters. There are a number of set requirements for any RIAS President, the judging of awards, keeping up to speed with all of the Incorporation;s committees, ceremonial glad handing and meeting with senior figures and representatives of Government. I did not take on this task lightly or without being fairly well appraised of what it entails. I have to say however that my office and HQ are now talking to each other very effectively and the teams in both places are hugely supportive. So it is perhaps what I expected. It is, I believe, a worthwhile contribution to a profession I sincerely believe in. It;s also, I confess, very good fun at times and there is no question that there is no better CPD in all architecture than this job."

Q2 From Willie Watt FRIAS, Convenor of RIAS Practice Committee (former President DIA)

"How will you build on the excellent work undertaken by the RIAS during the course of the last three years"

A2 "My predecessors, Arnie Dunn PPRIAS and David Dunbar PPRIAS and indeed a long line of Presidents before them, have worked hard to maintain the place of the RIAS as the fulcrum of Architecture in Scotland. It is ironic that over the last three years in a falling market the Incorporation has consolidated its governance, established a more representative committee structure and given the Incorporation;s historic HQ, the loving attention that it had undoubtedly lacked for too long.

The Incorporation now has a greatly enhanced public profile and indeed a real role to play in the public life of Scotland. We have recognised that, operating within new political structures, we have an opportunity to work more closely with Government. So on the PR and political liaison fronts, the Incorporation is a much more relevant organisation than it may have been at times in the past.

Now is not the time for radical changes or big gestures. We need to steadily improve what we do and how we do it. Arnie Dunn PPRIAS and David Dunbar PPRIAS have worked with the excellent RIAS staff team continuously towards that goal. I see opportunities for reviewing the way we run awards which are, after all, crucially important to our PR and to demonstrating the social and economic benefits of good buildings. I do want to review the Incorporation??s committee structure, again not with a view to radical reform but to ensure we are making the best use of the tremendous voluntary effort from our membership.

David Dunbar PPRIAS has already started work towards the RIAS Centenary in 2016. A year-long festival would be a great way to ensure that architecture is at the forefront of everyone's mind in Scotland. That has to be our next big goal."

Q3 From Willie Watt FRIAS, Convenor of RIAS Practice Committee (former President DIA)

"Being based in Aberdeen what can you do to strengthen the Incorporation's visibility in the Chapters to the betterment of the profession"

A3 "In the early days of my Presidency I offered to visit all of the Chapters, an offer which some Chapter Presidents have already taken up. It is important for the President to listen to the views of members from the perspective of being a fellow architect. There is no question that with the twice monthly e-bulletins, the new Quarterly and the soon to be launched new RIAS website and Practice/Projects Directory, our communications with all members have greatly improved. However I am well aware that many members still perceive a distance between themselves and the operations of HQ. I want to break down that perception and persuade members from throughout Scotland that there are many opportunities to actively participate in the work of the Incorporation and to benefit from what it has to offer. My first task is to listen."

Q4 From Dr Joyce Deans CBE PPRIAS

"Having spent six years of my 10 (or was it 12?) years on RIBA Council in several different roles, building up the profile of RIAS as a sister institute of the RIBA, equal to, rather than a subordinate part of the RIBA, I would be interested in learning your views on the future of that relationship."

A4 "When Arnie Dunn was RIAS President, he initiated a negotiation with the RIBA on what was, at that time, a rather unsatisfactory Partnership Agreement. If the RIBA is our sister then the siblings hadn't had a heart to heart talk for some time. Through Arnie's endeavours and subsequently those of his successor, David Dunbar, a new Agreement was put in place that strengthens our co-working with the RIBA.

Even something as simple as the advent of a joint committee which meets three or four times a year has been crucially important in ensuring that both organisations are working closely together on the basis of mutual knowledge and understanding towards shared goals. The Agreement also reinforces the autonomy of the Incorporation with the understanding that neither organisation will stray onto the other's patch (ours being Scotland, the RIBA's being the rest of the world). It does seem to be working well and I'm looking forward to meeting the RIBA's new President to ensure that these two autonomous organisations avoid any sibling rivalry or the petty squabbles that sometimes occur when one or other sister gets too big for their boots."

Q5 From Dr Larry Rolland PPRIAS PPRIBA

"Can you use your position to make every effort to persuade the Scottish Government to make it easier and simpler for as many architects as possible to be eligible for what work there is to be commissioned during this time of extreme shortage, by relaxing the commissioning procedures and opening the doors for large and small firms to tackle large and small projects"

A5 "For over a year the Incorporation's Commission on Procurement has deliberated over the many facets of current public procurement in Scotland. We worked hard alongside the Scottish Futures Trust to raise their project threshold from £750k to £3.5m thus potentially opening up significant streams of work for small to medium scale practices and the many others employed within Scotland's construction industry. Roy Martin QC Hon FRIAS who chairs the Commission has undertaken a rigorous review of European legalisation, the UK and Scottish legislation which flows from it and the proportionality or otherwise of procurement mechanisms which purport to be derived from that legislation.

More recently the Commission and the Incorporation have been working with the Scottish Government's procurement team on their proposed standard pre-qualification questionnaire (sPQQ). Although we see many potential benefits in a standardised approach we do feel that proportionality is crucial and we are working towards, as far as possible, ensuring that procurement in Scotland is proportionate and appropriate to maximise opportunities and minimise wasted time, energy and expenditure. Our Practice Convenor, Willie Watt, currently has a HM Government e-petition, demanding a procurement review. We would urge every RIAS member to sign up at http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/273."

Q6 John Lane PPRIAS, Vice President Architect's Benevolent Fund

"Will you be actively supporting the Architect's Benevolent Society? Have you viewed their latest DVD? Assuming that you have, what did you think of it"

A6 "The Architect's Benevolent Society does a superb job. Their latest DVD is very emotionally telling but it also argues its case for support very well. Society tends to assume that all architects are well-off and immune from hard times. As every architect will testify, the reality can be quite different. However when individual circumstances become really impossible to thole, ABS is there as a crucial lifeline. The RIAS has many initiatives, both at Chapter and HQ level which contribute to ABS every year. We will continue to do so. With ABS and Shelter as our nominated charities and our continuing highly effective communities programme, the Incorporation is a continuing supporter of very worthwhile causes even when life is very tough for all architects."

Q7 From David Dunbar PPRIAS

"What are your favourite buildings in Scotland and overseas"

A7 "In common with, I presume, a very high percentage of Scottish architects, my answer to the former would have to be Glasgow School of Art for all the usual reasons which have been far too well rehearsed for me to reiterate them here. However another particular favourite in Scotland, rather more historic, is Stirling Castle. Once within the defensive walls on that magnificent hilltop site, its Renaissance glories lift the spirits. Of course the sheer scale and the superbly carved details are all about magnifying the status of the King. What they also demonstrate is that, from its earliest days, Scotland has never been an insular nation. This is fine international architecture, a tradition which has continued throughout Scotland much to our national credit.

On my favourite international building I regret I really haven't seen enough to make a fully informed choice. Of those buildings I have visited however, it has to be Wrigh's Falling Water. Some decades ago, while still a student, this house was a long detour during a road trip from Chicago to New England. Although it was in private hands, we got close enough to see what has to be one of the most extraordinary meetings of landscape and Modernist architecture anywhere. I know it had teething problems, not least a leaky roof, doubtless prompting the client's response that the falling water was supposed to be on the outside! But, as a work of sheer daring, it is nothing less than architectural poetry."