HKIA registered practices: check an architecture firm

The Hong Kong Institute of Architects (HKIA) publishes a list of registered practices on its website. Use it to check whether an architecture firm appears on HKIA’s list, and to compare the contact details HKIA holds with the ones the firm gave you. It is a list of firms kept by the institute. It is not the ARB Register of individual architects, and it is not a Buildings Department register.

What the HKIA list shows

HKIA’s Find a Member section has three lists: the List of Members, the List of Specialists and Registered Practices. The Registered Practices list runs over several pages and shows, for each firm:

• company name
• band
• address
• telephone and fax numbers
• email address

It does not show fees, the kinds of project a firm takes on, or which architects work there. For those, you need to ask the firm and check people on other registers.

How to check a practice

1. Get the practice’s full company name as it appears on its fee proposal or letterhead. Trading names and company names can differ.
2. Open HKIA’s Registered Practices list and look for that company name. The list spans several pages, so check each page or use your browser’s find function on each one.
3. Compare the address, telephone number and email on the HKIA list with the details the firm gave you. If they differ, ask the firm why before you rely on the listing.
4. Note the band shown against the firm and read the next section before you draw conclusions from it.
5. Ask the firm which registered architect will lead your project, and check that person on the ARB Register.
6. If the firm says it provides an Authorized Person, check that named person on the Buildings Department register. Our guide to the Authorized Person (Architect) explains how.

What the band column refers to

HKIA’s Board of Practices maintains the guidelines and criteria for inclusion in, and renewal of, the List of HKIA Band 3 Architectural Consultants. HKIA’s page for that list also points to the Architectural and Associated Consultants Selection Board (AACSB) List of Consultants in Band 1 and Band 2, which the Architectural Services Department publishes.

We do not interpret bands, and a band is not a ranked.hk score. If the band matters to your decision, read the criteria on HKIA’s Board of Practices page and the AACSB list itself.

HKIA membership in brief

HKIA is the professional institute for architects in Hong Kong. Its membership page describes two classes you will often see mentioned:

• Members hold a degree or diploma in architecture recognised by the HKIA Council, have two years’ post-graduate architectural experience or its equivalent, and have passed the HKIA/ARB Professional Assessment or an approved equivalent.
• Corporate Members are corporations carrying on an architectural practice in Hong Kong. At least one director must be a Foundation Member, Member or Fellow of HKIA, and either at least 30% of the directors must be Foundation Members, Members or Fellows, or at least 30% of the voting rights must be held by them.

The HKIA/ARB Professional Assessment is run jointly by HKIA and the Architects Registration Board. Passing it is a route both to HKIA membership and to registration as an architect under the Architects Registration Ordinance (Cap. 408). HKIA membership and ARB registration are still two separate records, so check them separately.

What the HKIA list does not tell you

For the full comparison, see ARB, HKIA and the Buildings Department. To check a named architect step by step, see how to check the ARB Register.

How HKIA status appears on ranked.hk

Our architecture directory lists practices from each firm’s own website. We note HKIA status only when the practice publishes it there. If a listing has no HKIA note, that does not mean the firm is missing from HKIA’s list, so check the list yourself. ranked.hk is not HKIA, ARB or the Buildings Department.