{"id":765076,"date":"2024-11-21T09:23:40","date_gmt":"2024-11-21T09:23:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/?p=765076"},"modified":"2024-11-21T10:38:05","modified_gmt":"2024-11-21T10:38:05","slug":"is-it-possible-to-work-on-neom-and-still-be-an-riba-member","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/opinion\/is-it-possible-to-work-on-neom-and-still-be-an-riba-member","title":{"rendered":"Is it possible to work on NEOM and still be an RIBA member?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018We serve our members and society in order to deliver better buildings and places, stronger communities and a sustainable environment. Being inclusive, ethical, environmentally aware and collaborative underpins all that we do.\u2019 So says the RIBA\u2019s current statement on Strategy and Purpose<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In addition, the RIBA\u2019s Code of Professional Conduct<\/a> goes further by stating that \u2018Honesty, integrity and competence, as well as concern for others and for the environment, are the foundations of the RIBA\u2019s three principles of professional conduct\u2019.<\/p>\n

All are great ambitions. But how do these commitments sit with its members, who, to cut to the chase, remain underemployed and desperately looking for work? There simply isn\u2019t enough of it in the UK at the moment to sustain the 50,000 or so qualified architects, let alone the tens of thousands of Part 1 and Part 2 students coming along. We are collectively underemployed and have been for a number of years.<\/p>\n

However, worldwide there are places requiring the skills and expertise that UK (and other) architects possess. So, with the cost of living crisis not going away any time soon, isn\u2019t it right for the RIBA to be signing Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with nations building more than we are?<\/p>\n

A year ago, RIBA signed just such an agreement<\/a> with the Saudi Architecture and Design Commission (ADC). The MoU \u2018aims to advance architecture in Saudi Arabia and establish RIBA as a key partner in the design and construction sector\u2019 there.<\/p>\n

Now try to marry the ambitions of RIBA\u2019s Professional Code of Conduct to the aspirations of its MoU with Saudi Arabia \u2013 where the work is. Recent and not-so-recent reports from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates make it quite plain to anyone willing to take notice that hundreds of thousands of people suffer appalling working conditions<\/a> to get incredibly complicated and \u2018ambitious\u2019 construction projects built on time and on budget, despite being situated in the harshest of climates.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not simply poor working conditions. As recent articles have highlighted<\/a>, people are dying (perhaps 21,000 since 2017) in the name of constructing Saudi \u2018giga-projects\u2019 such as the NEOM mega-city. Turner and Townsend\u2019s website describes NEOM as boasting \u2018innovations that are redefining city-making and living. The application of new technologies and approaches provides an unprecedented opportunity to develop learning and drive a paradigm shift in city design, construction and operation.\u2019<\/p>\n

As the client himself, Mohammed bin Salman Al-Saud, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, stated at the launch of the vision back in 2016: \u2018We cannot ignore the liveability and environmental crises facing our world\u2019s cities, and NEOM is at the forefront of delivering new and imaginative solutions to address these issues\u2019.<\/p>\n

But at what cost to fellow humans, let alone the natural world? That\u2019s another article.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s obvious to most of us today that, if you go where the work is, there will often be numerous challenges which are not normally part of practice in the UK. Many of these sit uneasily under the hand-wringing-inducing umbrella of what might be called \u2018ethical practice\u2019. Issues such as \u2018a concern for others and for the environment\u2019 that sit front and centre in the RIBA\u2019s current Strategy and Purpose, need to be addressed, do they not?<\/p>\n

Well, perhaps not. As we know, many UK practices, employing thousands of architects, engineers, and technicians, are working on projects where construction workers are treated horrifically.<\/p>\n

And, in the case of NEOM, it\u2019s not only construction workers who are suffering. Members of the Huwaitat tribe protesting against the construction of The Line on their ancestral land were sentenced to death.<\/p>\n

It would appear that, to get work as an architect today, you are going to have to look the other way, blatantly ignoring the news stories and join an ever-growing collective of cognitive dissonance similar to that which enables humankind to deny the knowing of what to do to sort out the climate and ecological emergency.<\/p>\n

This article is not about ignoring the decisions and dilemmas many of us must face on a day-to-day basis, just to get by. But, equally, how can you call yourself a professional without upholding professional standards?<\/p>\n

The RIBA\u2019s current President-Elect, Chris Williamson<\/a>, has often felt the heat of the press questioning him for accepting commissions to design the futuristic transport infrastructure for The Line, a NEOM project that will supposedly enable Saudi Arabia to transform to a clean, green energy super-state.<\/p>\n

I, personally, have not completely understood his answers, which \u2013 to characterise them \u2013 tend to toe the \u2018I thought long and hard before accepting the commission\u2019 line.<\/p>\n

However, to his credit, Chris has asked for the opportunity to debate these issues in more detail. And so, I would like to take him up on this offer. The question Chris needs to ask himself, and indeed every other member of the RIBA, is whether working on NEOM is compatible with being an ethical professional, in other words being a member of the RIBA.<\/p>\n

I would argue that it is not.<\/p>\n

Duncan Baker-Brown is an architect, academic and activist who co-chairs the RIBA\u2019s Climate Activist Climate Action Expert Advisory Group and regularly attends COPs on behalf of the RIBA<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018We serve our members and society in order to deliver better buildings and places, stronger communities and a sustainable environment. Being inclusive, ethical, environmentally aware and collaborative underpins all that we do.\u2019 So says the RIBA\u2019s current statement on Strategy and Purpose. In addition, the RIBA\u2019s Code of Professional Conduct goes further by stating that …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101767,"featured_media":685985,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"ep_exclude_from_search":false},"categories":[745],"tags":[1990,4977,1276,101136,2121],"yoast_head":"\nIs it possible to work on NEOM and still be an RIBA member?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Working on Saudi giga-projects such as NEOM conflicts not only with the obligations of being an ethical professional but with the very foundations of the RIBA, argues Duncan Baker-Brown\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/opinion\/is-it-possible-to-work-on-neom-and-still-be-an-riba-member\" \/>\n<meta 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