I鈥檓聽pleased to share my final note of the year on behalf of the 澳门王中王 Board.听聽聽
In 2023, the 澳门王中王 Board鈥檚聽focus has been on ensuring 澳门王中王聽supports our architectural mission and聽delivers an efficient and relevant service for all our members, clients,聽and customers. In 2024, we intend to build on firm foundations, increasing聽our impact, influence,聽and reach.听聽聽
We聽had some exciting new changes聽this year. We聽were joined by聽our聽80th President, Muyiwa Oki,聽and our new CEO, Dr Valerie Vaughan-Dick. On the property front, we聽sold our premises at 76 Portland Place and began a fantastic聽new partnership with Tate Liverpool at 澳门王中王 North.听
We bolstered聽our Policy and Public Affairs team and ramped聽up our聽influencing work. From successfully lobbying the government and adopting an 18-metre聽height threshold for second staircases in new residential buildings, to commissioning research on financing models for social housing 鈥� we focused on the issues that matter most聽in architecture聽to our profession and society, and聽called for transformative change.
We also continued to lobby for a National Retrofit Strategy and mandatory Post Occupancy Evaluation in publicly-funded聽buildings through campaigns, consultation responses, and directly聽to the House of Commons鈥� Environmental Audit Committee.
We shared聽our messages on聽global stages, including聽at COP28 where our delegation championed the role of policy levers like whole life carbon regulation and the importance of collaboration across the sector.听
Following the establishment of the new building control system, we also launched our own聽澳门王中王聽Principal Designer聽register.听聽
Internationally,聽we worked hard to strengthen relationships between聽members, chapters, international offices,聽and other institutes while building聽strategic partnerships.
We curated a major exhibition on聽Contemporary China, and made聽important connections in聽Saudi Arabia 鈥� a key UK trading partner 鈥� which led to signing an agreement with the KSA Architecture and Design Commission.
We also renewed our longstanding Memorandum of Understanding with the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and met with the Ruler of Sharjah,聽where聽we operate under licence. Additionally, we relaunched our International Prize and validated聽51 architecture courses around the world.听聽聽聽
We continued to lay the foundations for the聽House聽of Architecture聽鈥� our聽major transformation programme. From聽bringing together our world-class collections and developing a virtual programme that will expand our digital reach and accessibility on a global scale to聽the essential modernisation of聽our London landmark building, we have been making聽steady progress. We hope聽to share聽our concept聽designs for 66 Portland Place in the spring. 聽聽
In the autumn,聽our partnership between 澳门王中王 and Tate Liverpool at 澳门王中王 North successfully restarted 澳门王中王鈥檚 exhibition programme in the north聽of England, and we have also had an exhibition at the Farrell Centre in Newcastle.
These exhibitions - alongside our current exhibition in London, Wide Angle View - have been聽increasing visitor numbers to 澳门王中王鈥檚 world-class collections at 66 Portland Place.听Thanks also to the success of the Stirling Prize event in Manchester,聽2023 will be 澳门王中王鈥檚 best year for visitor numbers to its public architecture programme and collections since 2019. 聽聽
Of course, this聽summary reflects only a fraction of the work that has taken place across the organisation this year, drawing on the expertise聽of many volunteer members, experts,聽and our brilliant staff team聽鈥� all with the ambition of聽promoting the work of our members and the importance of聽architecture. 聽聽
I'm聽pleased to say that we are heading into 2024聽with ambition and聽in great shape for the future.听聽聽
I hope you found this update useful. As ever, I welcome any direct feedback by emailing聽the personal assistant to the Chair of Board and President,聽Jennifer Goldsmith.听
I look forward to providing another update next spring, and I wish you all a restful break and a happy and prosperous new year.听聽
Best wishes,聽聽
Jack Pringle
