Stuart Hay, head of outreach at the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS), discusses the new manifesto and how whichever government is elected in Scotland can help architects to do their jobs
Ahead of significant parliamentary elections in Scotland, the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) has published its manifesto: Renewal: Building Beyond Crisis. It argues that only a strategic commitment to designing great places and well-considered buildings will allow Scotland to confront the housing emergency, rising fuel poverty, a stagnating economy and persistent building safety risks.
The document is intended as a wake up call to all parties contesting the Scottish Parliament elections. It also speaks directly to the future Scottish Government on the challenges and opportunities ahead. RIAS warns that a thriving and resilient architecture sector is an essential component of any credible plan to renew Scotland’s built environment. That environment has been compromised by long term austerity, delays to infrastructure programmes, and continuing economic uncertainty.
Architecture is a resilient profession
Despite the challenges, the profession has continued to deliver significant projects, including those celebrated in the RIAS Awards. However, repeating landmark successes such as Union Terrace Gardens, the revitalised Burrell Collection, or even delivering high quality social housing in a hostile fiscal climate is becoming increasingly difficult.
Architects in Scotland continue to grapple with complex procurement processes, the ongoing fallout from the Grenfell tragedy, and concerns about the suitability of design-and-build contracts, as highlighted in public inquiries into hospital failings. Another dimension of this poly-crisis is the shortage of affordable housing, compounded by a sclerotic planning system laid low by years of austerity.
A deep frustration within the profession in Scotland is the widening gap between ambitious policies on issues such as climate change and the resources and mechanisms required to deliver them. These mechanisms include stable investment plans, outcome-focused procurement, well-resourced local planning departments, and building regulations that align with national carbon goals.
To break this cycle and move beyond crisis, RIAS identifies seven areas where urgent action is required after May’s Holyrood Elections:
1. Stabilise capital investment
RIAS calls for long-term and predictable capital programmes. It argues that the stop-start pattern of investment harms the construction and design sector and results in avoidable delays to essential housing, healthcare, and education projects. Greater certainty would allow practices and contractors to invest in skills, apprenticeships and capacity with confidence.
2. Overhaul public procurement
The current cost-driven approach to procurement is seen as undermining design quality and excluding many SMEs from public sector work. RIAS wants a more balanced model that prioritises long-term public value, transparency and fair access. This would support a healthier and more diverse supply chain while improving outcomes for communities.
3. Revitalise Scotland’s planning system
Planning departments across Scotland face severe resource pressures. RIAS argues that investment in staffing and training, stronger collaboration with professional bodies, and improved support for community-led projects are essential. Without this, planning cannot deliver the consistent, timely decision-making that is needed to unlock new housing and regeneration.
4. Align Building Regulations with climate goals
The manifesto reinforces the need for regulations that support reuse, retrofit, and genuinely low-carbon construction. RIAS wants closer alignment with Scotland’s net-zero commitments and circular-economy principles. The focus is on performance, durability, and the carbon implications of decisions made throughout a building’s life.
5. Remove barriers to community-led regeneration
RIAS highlights the importance of tackling tenement disrepair, making better use of Scotland’s many gap sites and simplifying the complex landscape of funding streams. These changes would help communities take greater control of their own regeneration and enable small-scale, locally driven development.
6. Invest in construction skills
The organisation calls for a funded and accessible skills pipeline that reflects the realities of modern construction. It argues that retrofit, digital design, building safety, and low-carbon construction must be prioritised if Scotland is to meet its environmental commitments and maintain design quality.
7. A focus on implementation rather than repeated policy refreshes
A consistent theme through the manifesto is frustration at repeated rounds of policy development that do not translate into delivery. RIAS urges the next government to focus on implementation. Real progress depends on tackling systemic issues, especially the long-term resourcing of the planning system and the need for strong design leadership in all public investment programmes.
Architecture at the centre of Scotland’s renewal
Upon launching the manifesto, RIAS President Karen Anderson summarised the views and aspirations of the profession:
“Our manifesto provides the next Scottish Parliament with a clear set of measures that harness our built environment to promote health, protect the planet and sustain a thriving economy. It is a chance for MSPs to break free from a vicious cycle in which short-term thinking in public investment has created crises affecting our health, our homes, our public services, and our economy.
The best projects in Scotland demonstrate clearly that architects have a key role to play in shaping Scotland’s renewal, and we want to work together with MSPs to deliver the buildings and places that communities deserve.”
A significant moment for the profession’s influence
The manifesto represents an important step in RIAS’s efforts to secure greater recognition of architects’ role in addressing Scotland’s most complex policy challenges. Procurement reform, a planning system equipped for modern demands and a well-considered approach to climate action and retrofit are set to remain central campaigning points once the next generation of MSPs are elected and the government decides its legislative programmes.
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