PUSHING FOR HIGHER PAY
Mr Tan told CNA’s Singapore Tonight that the institute has been rolling out several initiatives to improve the perception of the industry and celebrate young architects, such as giving out design awards.
SIA is also pushing to ensure that young architects are being paid well, and that their wages are on par with other industries.
“One of the main issues that we also face is the fact that without commensurate fees, a lot of work is being done by the architects, perhaps ‘scope creep’ – things that add on to the project without us even being able to charge fees for,” Mr Tan said.
In one scenario cited in the value articulation framework, an architect performing a simple compliance check for an existing building is asked to “help” with additional feasibility studies. Now, the architect can refer to the framework to point out additional liabilities and scope to the client.
Mr Tan pointed out that architecture is not just about design, but also understanding statutory requirements and performing a “complex amount of work and liabilities”.
Mr Tan noted that as the built environment has grown more complex over the years, architects are getting more work without understanding the full amount of work they must do.
He added: “He added: “The building environment also requires us to comply with codes from easily 10 to 20 different departments, so now if each department has a new code, all of them then add up to the type of work and amount of work we do.
“Therefore, SIA has felt that the initiative to articulate the work, the codes, the requirements and the time – that will help our members understand the work better.”
