Foreword

Every practice is as successful as its people. We are in the business of designing for the success of our clients, so we should look after our own staff with respect and dignity in order to ensure our own business success.

I have been involved with the RIBA in several guises, including as Champion for Equality and Diversity, which is a central tenet of HR. As President of the RIBA, I believe we need to focus on inclusion in architecture. It is vital that we improve pride in the profession along with diversity and, of course, profit.

Architecture is facing a number of challenges; not least of these is how we treat our people. We need to concern ourselves with retention, to address the crisis of talent that we are currently experiencing, and to engender a greater spirit of collaboration through diversity.

We can only do this by adhering to not just good practice, but best practice measures to manage our people. Too often we have heard of a talent drain as people leave the profession for more opportunities in other sectors or other countries.

This publication is ideally positioned to help those of us who wish to introduce processes which will help to achieve these goals. Architecture is about people, by people and for people. We need to lead by example and provide workplaces where talent and creativity can thrive.

This book provides industry specific guidance to enable practices of all sizes to do just that. It offers practical and useful advice on each aspect of HR in a structured way that is simple to implement. The anecdotes and case studies add humour and a spark of recognition to those of us who work in the profession.

Read this book. Keep it for reference on the shelf in your office and direct anyone who manages a practice (and its people) towards it. It is an effective tool to help us achieve the profession to which we all aspire. . .

Jane Duncan
President RIBA