A new agreement between Australia, New Zealand and Canada means experienced registered architects can be recognised in all three countries.
Australian architects have always travelled and worked abroad, some establishing remarkable, long-term international careers, others gaining experience elsewhere before returning to practice in Australia. In turn, Australian architecture is enriched through the presence of practitioners from many other countries.
Despite this international flow, it has not always been easy to gain formal recognition of skills, experience and education in different jurisdictions. A new trilateral agreement between Australia, New Zealand and Canada means that achieving such recognition just got a lot simpler.
The agreement – signed by the Architects Accreditation Council of Australia (AACA) on 18 February 2015, at Parliament House in Wellington, New Zealand – enables the mutual recognition of experienced registered architects in all three countries.
Richard Thorp, President of the AACA, comments, Architects Accreditation Council of Australia President Richard Thorp said: “We are very pleased to have implemented an agreement under APEC with our New Zealand and Canadian colleagues that will facilitate mobility of architects across our respective economies. We anticipate great interest from architects in all three countries as the trilateral agreement offers significant opportunities for architects and benefits for our respective economies.”
The AACA encourages Australian architects to explore the potential of the agreement, noting that Canada has a much lower proportion of architects per capita than Australia.
The agreement also provides a base for further collaboration between Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The AACA is now working with the registration boards of New Zealand and Canada to identify further opportunities – for example, to facilitate the movement of architectural students and graduates between the three nations.
This new agreement follows similar arrangements already established with Japan and Singapore. The AACA is now also working with the National Council of Architect Registration Boards in the US with the aim of reaching similar arrangements with the majority of jurisdictions in the US by the end of 2016.
These agreements are all developed within the broader framework of the APEC Architect, a register that facilitates the access of registered APEC Architects to independent practice within the Asia-Pacific region. There are currently 27 architects on the Australian APEC Architects Register, and the AACA encourages all Australian architects to investigate the opportunities and to consider becoming an APEC architect.
Find out about requirements for APEC architects and download the application form at the AACA website.
Further info: mail@architects.nsw.gov.au. 0400 564 936
BACKGROUND
APEC Architect
The APEC Architect framework is a direct response to the commitments of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) to reduce regulation and thereby enable reciprocal agreements between member economies.
Countries participating in the APEC Architect framework are:
- Australia
- Canada
- People’s Republic of China
- Hong Kong China
- Japan
- Republic of Korea
- Malaysia
- Mexico
- New Zealand
- Republic of the Philippines
- Singapore
- Thailand
- United States of America