Authorized Person (Architect): AP register and duties

An Authorized Person (AP) is a building professional on the Authorized Persons’ register, one of the registers the Building Authority keeps under the Buildings Ordinance (Cap. 123). The register has a list of architects, which the Buildings Department search shows as AP(A), next to lists of engineers and surveyors. Being a registered architect does not by itself put someone on that list. If you need to know whether a named architect is an AP, check the Buildings Department AP register, not the ARB Register.

What an Authorized Person is

The Building Authority keeps separate registers of Authorized Persons, Registered Structural Engineers, Registered Geotechnical Engineers, Registered Inspectors, Registered General Building Contractors, Registered Specialist Contractors and Registered Minor Works Contractors. Each register is for persons qualified to perform their respective statutory duties under the Buildings Ordinance. The Buildings Department’s building professionals page explains how APs are registered.

The Authorized Persons’ register has three lists:

• AP(A): list of architects
• AP(E): list of engineers
• AP(S): list of surveyors

If you are looking for the “AP (Architect) list”, that is AP(A). This guide is about that list.

Duties under the Buildings Ordinance

The Buildings Department describes the statutory duties placed on registered building professionals under the Buildings Ordinance as:

• supervising the carrying out of the building works or street works;
• notifying the Buildings Department of any contravention of the regulations; and
• complying generally with the Ordinance.

Read the provisions in full in the Buildings Ordinance (Cap. 123). For how building plans go to the Building Authority, see our guide to submitting building plans.

AP(A) and registered architect compared

Registration as an architect is one of the prescribed qualifications for AP registration. It is not the AP registration itself, so a person can be on the ARB Register and not on the AP list.

How an architect becomes an Authorized Person

1. Hold a prescribed qualification. The Buildings Department lists these as registered architect, registered professional engineer (structural or civil) or registered professional surveyor. The qualifications are specified in the Building (Administration) Regulation.
2. Build up Hong Kong experience. Within the 3 years before the date of application, the applicant needs practical experience gained in Hong Kong for a continuous period of 1 year, of a kind the Registration Committee considers appropriate.
3. Apply on Form BA 1. The Buildings Department publishes advisory notes for completing Form BA 1.
4. Attend a professional interview. The Authorized Persons Registration Committee examines each applicant’s qualifications and experience and interviews them. The Buildings Department generally contacts applicants about 4 weeks before the interview. Applicants must show adequate practical experience and general knowledge of their profession, and a working knowledge of the Buildings Ordinance and allied matters. See the guidance notes on the AP professional interview.
5. Be recommended for inclusion. Section 3(7) of the Buildings Ordinance says a person is not included in the Authorized Persons’ register unless they have the prescribed qualifications and are recommended by the Registration Committee.

How to check an AP on the Buildings Department register

1. Open the Buildings Department Registered Professionals or Contractors search with the Authorized Persons’ register selected.
2. Pick the list that matches the person’s profession. For an architect, that is AP(A).
3. Search for the person’s name and compare the entry with the name and details they gave you.
4. If the title matters to you as well, check the same person on the ARB Register. Our guide on how to check the ARB Register walks through it.
5. Keep a dated note of what you checked with your project records.

Our guide on how to search Buildings Department registers covers the other register codes.

Common mistakes

• Treating “registered architect” and “AP” as the same. They are two registers under two ordinances.
• Checking the firm instead of the person. AP registration belongs to a named professional. A practice’s brochure is not a registration.
• Confusing AP with Registered Inspector. The Inspectors’ Register is separate. An AP may also be on it, but only an entry there makes someone a Registered Inspector.
• Relying on a website claim. Our architecture directory mentions AP work only when the firm’s own site says so. Check the named person on the Buildings Department register before you appoint.

ranked.hk is not the Buildings Department or ARB, and this guide is not legal advice.