5 HERITAGE PROFESSIONALS PROPORTION OF UK ARCHITECTS AND SURVEYORS WITH CONSERVATION ACCREDITATION (2025) ALL ARCHITECTS & SURVEYORS CONSERVATION ACCREDITED PER CENT ACCREDITED ARCHITECTURE AABC 434 RIAS (at upper and lower accreditation levels) 48 82 RIBA/RSAW/RSUA (at upper and lower accreditation levels) 157 261 IHBC (with ARB) 133 TOTAL 1,115 All architects*¹ 52,000 2.1% BUILDING SURVEYORS RICS 193 IHBC (with RICS) 80 TOTAL 273 All building surveyors 10,000² 2.7% All architects and surveyors 62,000 1,388 2.2% Just over two per cent of architects and surveyors in the UK are accredited in building conservation, which is broadly in line with the proportion of buildings that are listed. Professional accreditation survey Where statutory consents are required, such as listed building consent, planning permission or consent under the building regulations, proposals will usually involve the work of an accredited professional consultant such as an architect or a surveyor. A survey was conducted to establish the proportion of these professionals and others who are accredited in the conservation and repair of historic and traditionally constructed buildings. Accreditation in conservation for architects is offered by the two main professional bodies, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS), and an independent body, Architects Accredited in Building Conservation (AABC). In addition, 134 architects are full members of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation (IHBC). Between them they currently have 1,115 fully accredited members out of a total of 52,000 architects registered by the Architect’s Registration Board (2.1%). For surveyors, accreditation is offered by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) with 193 fully accredited members. In addition, 80 RICS building surveyors with no other accreditation are full members of IHBC. This gives a total of 273 out of a total of approximately 10,000 building surveyors (2.7%) The number of listed buildings in the UK is approximately two per cent of the total building stock, so the proportion of architects and surveyors who are accredited seems appropriate. However, almost one in four buildings in the UK is traditionally constructed and requires the same specialist knowledge where maintenance, repairs, retrofit or adaptation is being carried out. With the current need for retrofit measures to reduce the carbon cost of running existing buildings, it is clear that there are now far too few professionals to meet the extra demand. ¹ Source: Statista.com: figures for 1st quarter of 2025 based on original data from the Office for National Statistics and cross-checked by the editor with most recent figures available from the Architects Registration Board ² Source: RICS. NB The institute does not keep exact figures for each discipline, but they estimated that of their 112,000 qualified professionals (MRICS, FRICS and AssocRICS) at the end of 2024, 10,000 held RICS chartered building surveyor designation.
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