I am not an Architect. There you go, I've said it.
I went to the same university, passed the same exams, and have worked on the same projects as many Architects, but I can no longer call myself one; why? It's all in the word...
Under section 20 of the Architects Act 1997, the title 'Architect' is now a protected word that can only be used by members of the ARB, a 'club' to which we do not subscribe for good reason.
I was amazed while in my first year at university as a trainee Architectural Technologist, we were joined by post-graduate RIBA Architects. "Why are you folks here and not working in the real world?" was the obvious question I blurted out rather naively. "Because our employers have sent us back to learn how a building is put together" was their answer. I was dumbfounded. I was 21 years old, had worked as a carpenter and building site foreman since leaving school, and was now putting myself through university. All I knew was how a building is put together; and yet here were qualified architects, 7 years of university education, and none of them knew how to make their pretty pictures stand up.
So what am I?
In layman's terms I'm a cross between an Architect and an Engineer. I am an affiliate of CIAT, the Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists; and I am an associate member of CABE, the Chartered Association of Building Engineers for which I carry the initials ACABE after my name. If you are looking for a title I prefer Architectural Consultant, but you can just call me Ben.