REGISTRATION
Questions and Answers
if the question and answer is not here - please email the query to the national office - and in most cases we will then list it here
What Acronym is used by a Registered Landscape Architect?
see link here
only full AILA members/AILA registered members can use this acronym.
Use of the term 'landscape architect' and/or 'Registered Landscape Architect'
The title Registered Landscape Architect can only be used by those Australian professionals who are professionally recognised through the AILA.
Until they successfully apply and are accepted, graduates from accredited programs will not be able to call themselves Registered Landscape Architects - ie professionally recognised landscape architects.
The AILA continues to advocate that agencies should employ those landscape architects that are Registered Landscape Architects and that agencies need to be aware that using the title 'landscape architect' does not alone denote a recognised professional status.
Is the AILA registered with government in any way?
Because of the state systems of government within Australia, there are in fact a variety of legislations and operational practices in place by the vast number of agencies involved with landscape architects throughout the seven states and territories and the 650 or more local governments.
The AILA does not keep up with the continual changes within these hundreds of agencies. But does attempt to have information available that allows them to make informed decisions and on consultant selection.
So to answer the question, the AILA is not 'registered' with any government in Australia. Most informed government agencies look to employ professionals and to make sure they spend their public funds effectively. They therefore look to the AILA to provide the professional status that allows them to make informed decisions and a professional consultant selection.
Can a graduate from an accredited program call themselves a Landscape Architect?
The AILA recommends that graduates ensure that any clients understand their current status as a landscape architect - that in fact they are yet to be registered and that they are still to be regarded as Graduate Landscape Architects.
Of course if a landscape architect chooses to operate without being professionally recognised, then this may or may not lead to occasional legal challenges and possible interesting insurance issues; but the AILA will not be involved in such issues.
We will however continue to alert agencies to improper use of any term that hints at any practitioner directly or indirectly portraying themselves as a fully recognised or registered landscape architect.
Can a person with a degree in Landscape Architecture and not a registered member call themselves a 'Landscape Architect' with any justification ?
There is no clear answer to this as the legislation across Australia States and Territories is generally still not clear or consistent on whether someone with a landscape architecture degree can call call themselves a Landscape Architect. Sadly until there is a Commonwealth - State Government agreement, it remains a grey area. The AILA's only advice to clients is 'buyer beware'. The best advice is to play it safe: consider a registered landscape architect.
Does state or national government recognise landscape architecture as a
profession?
The profession of landscape architecture is fully recognised officially throughout Australia.
In most cases government agencies understand the profession and the services provided by landscape architects.
BUT, there are still individuals within an agency or two that are yet to update their own information on contemporary practice within the built environment design professions and to understand what the scope of work that different professionals undertake.
Do registered landscape architects have to be registered by government?
At present none of the state or local governments (except SA) in Australia have in place a legislated registration process for landscape architects.
The AILA operates the self-regulatory national scheme for the Registration of Landscape Architects.
If a practitioner chooses to operate without being professionally recognised by the AILA, then this may or may not lead to occasional legal challenges and possible interesting insurance issues. The AILA will not be involved in such issues.
In some states - a landscape architect may have to be separately 'licensed' for construction work - but that is a different issue to being registered as a landscape architect.
Is there a national registration scheme for landscape architects?
It is on the advocacy agenda of several professional institutes (BEDP members) that the Commonwealth and State Governments should introduce and oversee a national professional registration scheme for all the design professions involved with the built environment. Talk to your local member about this if you get the opportunity.
In 2007 the AILA altered the Registration System:
Why 'Registered"?
The changes to the registration processes removed the former nomenclature of ‘Associate’ and the acronym AAILA and replaced it with the more universal and easily understood professional status of being a Registered Landscape Architect.
Using the term ‘Registered’ aligns the profession easily with other professions and reduces the chances of confusion by agencies seeking to employ ‘registered’ professionals and consultants.
What were the reasons for the change?
Agencies are looking to the profession to provide an easily understood status of professional recognition that they can use alongside that being provided by other professional groups.
The term 'Registered' remains the most accepted in Australia. For instance, agencies establishing competitions had struggled to understand the relationship between the Associate and the Registered Landscape Architect. Most now use the term "registered with the relevant association/institute" as their terminology for identifying professionals.
The reality is that clients and those running competitions, despite many marketing attempts, did not understood why the AILA has two layers of membership (ie Associates and Registered Landscape Architects).
However, the former registration scheme had identified that the AILA needs to ensure that there are processes for providing the professional recognition and that agencies need to have confidence in those recognition processes.
By moving to this one nomenclature for all fully recognised members, agencies now has a much easier means of recognising, and therefore employing or choosing for competitions, AILA landscape architects as their preferred consultants.
What is the new emphasis on CPD?
All full members are now to be regarded as registered members and are required to supply basic information on their on-going CPD.
Registered members are encouraged to use the online process to renew their membership, complete CPD requirements and pay annual fees. (hard copy to be also available)
This process was designed to be accessible and not onerous – as Council recognised that its members undertake professional development and the system should be a tool to provide recognition for the members’ on-going commitment to their own professional practice.
The other factor to be recognised is that many professionals are mentors to others and/or continue to have life-long mentor relationships with their colleagues.