At the 2015 Annual Business Meeting of the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB), Member Boards agreed on Saturday to discontinue the current Broadly Experienced Foreign Architect (BEFA) Program in favor of a simplified alternative for receiving an NCARB Certificate.
The change, effective July 1, 2016, will optimize the process for foreign architects who are licensed but do not currently meet the requirements for the NCARB Certificate. This credential facilitates licensure among jurisdictions and signifies that an architect has met national standards for licensure established by registration boards.
“We wanted to remove some of the unnecessary financial and administrative impediments for this group by refocusing on the nationally accepted standards for licensure." —Dale McKinney, NCARB President
The new alternative for foreign licensees will replace the current BEFA Program’s requirements, eliminating the committee dossier review and the need to document seven years of credentialed practice in a foreign country. Instead, foreign architects will be required to document completion of the Intern Development Program (IDP) experience requirements and successfully complete the Architect Registration Examination (ARE) to obtain NCARB certification.
“NCARB Certification provides an important career advantage, opening up future job opportunities throughout the U.S. and providing free online continuing education,” said NCARB President Dale McKinney, FAIA, NCARB. “We wanted to remove some of the unnecessary financial and administrative impediments for this group by refocusing on the nationally accepted standards for licensure.
“By imposing the same experience and examination criteria on foreign architects as we do in U.S. architect candidates for certification, we address knowledge of U.S. codes and facility with English as the primary U.S. language,” McKinney added. “The new alternative will be more automated, increasing objectivity and helping reduce fees associated with the dossier and interview requirements.”
In other Annual Business Meeting action, a new alternative to the Broadly Experienced Architect (BEA) program fell one vote shy of getting the 28 votes needed by the Member Boards to discontinue the BEA in favor of a more simplified alternative for architects seeking an NCARB Certificate when they do not have a degree from a program accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB).
The new requirements for the education alternative for certification would have required five years of post-licensure practice for all licensees without accredited education. It would also have required twice the IDP requirements for work experience for architects with a pre-professional architectural degree, and five times the IDP requirements for those with anything less than a pre-professional architectural degree.
“The split in our membership shows the proposal needs more work,” said NCARB CEO Michael Armstrong. “Our board will apply feedback from the membership toward a remodeled alternative and come back next year with a proposal that will try to capture the blend of rigor, inclusion and ease of use that is acceptable to a majority of our members.”
Related Stories
| Jan 10, 2011
Architect Jean Nouvel designs an island near Paris
Abandoned by carmaker Renault almost 20 years ago, Seguin Island in Boulogne-Billancourt, France, is being renewed by architect Jean Nouvel. Plans for the 300,000-square-meter project includes a mix of culture, commerce, urban parks, and gardens, which officials hope will attract both Parisians and tourists.
| Jan 10, 2011
Michael J. Alter, president of The Alter Group: ‘There’s a significant pent-up demand for projects’
Michael J. Alter, president of The Alter Group, a national corporate real estate development firm headquartered in Skokie, Ill., on the growth of urban centers, project financing, and what clients are saying about sustainability.
| Jan 7, 2011
BIM on Target
By using BIM for the design of its new San Clemente, Calif., store, big-box retailer Target has been able to model the entire structural steel package, including joists, in 3D, chopping the timeline for shop drawings from as much as 10 weeks down to an ‘unheard of’ three-and-a-half weeks.
| Jan 7, 2011
How Building Teams Choose Roofing Systems
A roofing survey emailed to a representative sample of BD+C’s subscriber list revealed such key findings as: Respondents named metal (56%) and EPDM (50%) as the roofing systems they (or their firms) employed most in projects. Also, new construction and retrofits were fairly evenly split among respondents’ roofing-related projects over the last couple of years.
| Jan 7, 2011
Total construction to rise 5.1% in 2011
Total U.S. construction spending will increase 5.1% in 2011. The gain from the end of 2010 to the end of 2011 will be 10%. The biggest annual gain in 2011 will be 10% for new residential construction, far above the 2-3% gains in all other construction sectors.
| Jan 7, 2011
Mixed-Use on Steroids
Mixed-use development has been one of the few bright spots in real estate in the last few years. Successful mixed-use projects are almost always located in dense urban or suburban areas, usually close to public transportation. It’s a sign of the times that the residential component tends to be rental rather than for-sale.
| Jan 4, 2011
Product of the Week: Zinc cladding helps border crossing blend in with surroundings
Zinc panels provide natural-looking, durable cladding for an administrative building and toll canopies at the newly expanded Queenstown Plaza U.S.-Canada border crossing at the Niagara Gorge. Toronto’s Moriyama & Teshima Architects chose the zinc alloy panels for their ability to blend with the structures’ scenic surroundings, as well as for their low maintenance and sustainable qualities. The structures incorporate 14,000 sf of Rheinzink’s branded Angled Standing Seam and Reveal Panels in graphite gray.
| Jan 4, 2011
6 green building trends to watch in 2011
According to a report by New York-based JWT Intelligence, there are six key green building trends to watch in 2011, including: 3D printing, biomimicry, and more transparent and accurate green claims.
