Two Years Stops Being
the Measure

For as long as anyone practising now can remember, registration in the UK has required two years of practical experience. Not two years of demonstrated competence, two years of time. That measure is being removed, and the change reaches further than the trainees it was designed for.

What is actually changing

ARB announced the reform on 18 August 2026, following an independent commission that reviewed professional practical experience through 2025 and a consultation held between January and April this year.

• The two-year minimum is removed. Trainees will still need qualifications demonstrating they have met all of ARB's Competency Outcomes, but the time required to reach those outcomes will vary with the individual's education and experience.
• ARB is also removing the requirement for applicants for registration to have completed at least two years of practical experience. That sentence covers more people than the trainee route.
• A new Trainee Record of Experience becomes mandatory, kept by trainees, learning providers and employers together. Its purpose is to identify gaps early rather than to assess anyone at the end.
• Revised Standards for learning providers and new guidance for employers set out who is responsible for what during practical experience.

The changes come into force in December 2028.

The condition that decides which rule applies to you

This is the part that gets lost in the headlines, and it is the only part that matters if you are planning a route now.

Existing accredited qualifications do not have to meet the revised requirements immediately. But every qualification must transition by 31 December 2028, after which un-transitioned qualifications cease to be recognised for registration.

So between now and then there are two parallel systems, and which one governs your route depends on the transition status of the specific qualification you hold or are studying. That is a question with a different answer at each institution.

Why this matters if you qualified outside the UK

The obvious reading is that this concerns UK trainees moving through Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. It does, but not only them.

ARB's wording is that it is removing the requirement for applicants for registration to have completed at least two years of practical experience. Anyone joining the register through the Prescribed Examination route has always faced that same requirement. Removing it changes what an internationally qualified architect has to evidence, and shifts the assessment from years accumulated to competence demonstrated.

That direction of travel matches the other reform running alongside it. The Prescribed Examination is being rebuilt around three stages: an application establishing eligibility, an assessment of a portfolio of evidence, and an online interview. Both changes move the same way, from counting time to reading evidence.

For someone trained in a five-year integrated programme in Türkiye, Spain or Italy, this is the more favourable direction. The old system spent considerable effort forcing a comparison against a British three-part structure the degree was never designed to match.

One detail worth knowing

The consultation was not popular. Of the first 672 respondents, sixty per cent opposed removing the two-year minimum. ARB proceeded anyway, retaining the framework while adjusting details in response to feedback.

RIBA supported the change. Its chair of the board of trustees described the shift towards competence rather than prescribed timeframes as long overdue.

Opposition on that scale usually means the profession expects the change to be difficult to administer, not that it is wrong in principle. Worth keeping in mind if the implementation looks uneven in 2028.

Sources: ARB news release of 18 August 2026, the Professional Practical Experience Commission findings, and reporting by the Architects' Journal, Building Design and Dezeen; read September 2026. The changes take effect in December 2028 and transition timelines vary by qualification. Verify against arb.org.uk and with your learning provider before planning around any date here.

Where I come into this

The reforms are moving in a direction that suits internationally qualified architects, but the transition period does not. Between now and December 2028 the rule that applies to you depends on the status of your qualification, and that status is not always published.

What I work on is establishing which framework governs your specific route, what evidence the assessment will actually want, and whether the timing favours applying now or after the transition. Those three answers change the plan entirely.