Batt takes a swipe at architects

Until recently just about anybody could call themselves an architect and "design" buildings but now the Government has brought Ireland up-to-date with nearly every other country in the world by restricting the use of the name "architect" to those who have actually got a professional qualification.

No longer, it seemed, would engineers or woodworkers be let loose on building design in spite of the fact that their skills lay elsewhere.

But, what's this? Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe is suggesting that school design should be handed over to engineers or surveyors to save on architects' fees - which he says constitute 13.5 per cent of a building budget.

Wrong says the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland, whose president Sean Ó Laoire says that, when looking at lifetime costs of a building, architects fees are about 2 per cent. He says that civil engineers and surveyors are not "trained to provide an architectural design service and therefore the Minister's proposal is completely impractical".

Despite five-to-seven years of training, architects have always felt a tad insecure about their standing, with reason; no one would suggest that doctors be dispensed with because they are too expensive!