Building Design Technicians, Technologists or Draughtsmen operating without a licence are to contact the Architects Registration Council (ARC) secretariat to be registered on a provisional register before going through a training workshop and licensing examination.

This to enable them to acquire a national licence to operate.

Registrar of ARC, Stella Arthiabah (Mrs.) has announced this in an interview with the press at a one-week training workshop towards the 2019 Technicians Licensing Examinations held at the ARC head office at Ridge, Accra.

Subjects undertaken included: Statutory Laws Governing the Built Environment; the Building Code; Representation Techniques, Drafting Detailing and Specification Notes; File Management; Office Management Procedure; Basic Reporting; Basic Estimation and Tendering Process; Basic Accounting and Financial Management; Code of conduct/Role of the Building Design Technician; Site and Safety Management and Basic Surveying & Survey Application.

Photo: Arc. Stella N.D. Arthiabah, Registrar of ARC

Arc. Arthiabah recounted the formation of the National Board of Control for Building Design Technicians & Draughtsmen as government’s response to the call by key industry players and the general public, such as the Association of Building Technicians (ABT) and the Ghana Institute of Architects (GIA) to develop professionalism in the building and construction industry by extending an arm of regulation over the technicians in the industry.

“With the directive of the Ministry of Works and Housing, the Board has been set up with the aim of ensuring professionalism in the delivery of technical services within the built environment professions, and creation of a safe and sustainable built environment for all”.

“We have already organized a roadshow across the country to sensitise the Technicians and Draughtsmen on the on-going exercise to Register and categorize them towards licensure. This workshop, in particular, is the maiden training workshop to prepare them for the 2019 examination which we believe will equip them adequately to pass. A similar training workshop will be held in Kumasi, all in a bid to clear from the system all the people who were practising as draughtsmen before the establishment of the Board of Control,” she said and cautioned all draughtsmen operating in the country to come voluntarily to be registered.

Adding her voice, Senior Assistant Registrar of the ARC, Arc. Jeannette Attipoe observed the maiden workshop as a success for having recorded a huge number of participants from the Greater Accra, Kumasi, Brong, Eastern and other regions.

She particularly praised the response from the participants, their readiness to upgrade themselves and to have a licence to operate legally as well as get access to opportunities out there in the profession.

Arc. Attipoe urged all Technicians operating without a license to contact the ARC secretariat for registration and partake in the training workshop, disclosing that the subjects being undertaken at the workshop are varied with the aim of making participants more wholesome to offer the required technical service in the built environment.