The RIBA is transforming. From an overhaul of our constitution and governance, to a review of our staff restructure, we are modernising to make us more effective, impactful and fit for the future.
RIBA’s 2021 deficit was forecasted at £8.1m, and clearly it is unsustainable to keep spending beyond our means. We urgently need to reduce our operational expenditure, at pace, in order to safeguard our business.
Last September we announced a new streamlined corporate structure. This has been designed to enable the institute to deliver more efficient support and services for members, have greater impact and influence, and to move to developing our services through a more sustainable business model with reduced operating costs. We are now working our way through the detail of the teams and roles underpinning this, which involves a collective consultation process with employees.
In our plans, our Nations & Regions network remains an essential core of our operation, with some administration changes.
Our plans will bring our UK and international member-facing teams closer together, and provide access to more shared support, so we can ensure a consistently excellent experience for all members, regardless of their location. Currently, there is an excess of duplicated effort, and a need for us to find better ways of delivering an improved service.
Headlines referring to a ‘super region’ structure suggests more of a substantive branding or membership change, than is the reality. The ‘groups’ of linked regional teams will have no external brand or identity because this is simply a staffing arrangement change.
In England, the plan is to link staff teams together behind the scenes, to share resources and encourage even more collaboration. The four new ‘groups’ cover: North (linking North East, North West and Yorkshire), Central (linking West Midlands, East and East Midlands), South (linking South East, South and South West) and London.
Regional Councils and their electoral boundaries are unaffected by the proposals and vital activities such as the regional awards will continue.
It also means that some of the activities currently delivered by regionally based colleagues would move, or receive more support from shared specialist teams, for example, awards and events processing, policy and marketing support. Improved technology and processes including a contact centre to handle large volumes of calls and emails will also relieve local teams of these time-consuming administrative tasks, freeing time to focus on engagement.
A number of elected members and colleagues have helped to shape these proposals, including those responsible for overseeing our regional and international membership work, and we continue to listen to feedback as we make our final decisions.
As we hope you can appreciate, this is an unsettling time for our staff and a key priority is to support colleagues as they transition through these changes, whilst continuing to deliver the impeccable service our members, clients and partners expect.
We expect to confirm the final plans in the coming months, and for the transition to our new structure to be complete by mid-2022.
We appreciate that there may be questions about how these plans will work in practice, and want to reassure you that we will continue to assess, listen and respond. We encourage members to feedback via their regionally-elected RIBA Council member first.
We also wanted to take a moment to address some confusion around our proposal to modernise our HQ at 66 Portland Place in London. The building - as impressive as it is - requires essential modernisation. It is decaying and inaccessible. We need to ensure it is fit for the future and fully reflects our commitment to climate action.
We have of course considered the merits of moving more parts of the business outside of 66 Portland Place and outside of London, but there is no financial case to do so. The terms of our lease at 66 Portland Place make the building our long term home, and it is vital that we get it into better shape.
At this juncture, it is important to note the difference between operational expenditure (the ongoing day-to-day expenses required to run the business) and capital expenditure (one-off investment on assets that deliver long-term benefits). Both are essential, but separate parts of our overall financial picture. The costs of refurbishing 66 Portland Place will be capital expenditure – long term investment in our property asset and our future.
At this stage, we plan to engage a team of architects to help us to refine a brief and budget that meets our objectives on access, amenity and carbon. We have only estimated the total cost, to enable entrants to assess their capacity and resourcing. Once this initial work is complete, the options and funding will be fully considered by the RIBA Board for decision. Work is unlikely to take place until at least 2023.
Jack Pringle, RIBA Board Chair
Simon Allford, RIBA President
