Last Update : 11/04/2005
English version
INTRODUCTION
ACE MATTERS
CORE ISSUES
OTHER MATTERS
PUBLICATIONS
EVENTS
COMPETITIONS
USEFUL LINKS
EDITOR’S NOTE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Welcome to the third
issue in 2005 of ACE Info, the monthly update from the Architects'
Council of Europe that will give you, at a glance, information on current
issues, highlighting emerging areas of activity and informing you of matters of
interest in the field of architectural policy.
This issue covers the
months of March and April and is also available in French.
Joint Working Party with
the EAAE meets for the First Time
Following the decision
of the General Assembly in 2004 that the ACE should seek to develop closer ties
with the EAAE (European Association of Architectural Education) the two
organisations agreed to establish a Joint Working Party (JWP) to address issues
of common interest and concern. The first meeting of the JWP took place
in Brussels on the 5th March 2005 and has been judged, by those
present, to be a useful first step on the road to close co-operation between
the two organisations. The meeting agreed that the matter that requires
the most urgent attention is the probable adoption of the Qualifications
Directive in the coming months and the impact that it will have on the
architectural profession and the education of architects. In particular
there is concern about the future consultation mechanism that is envisaged by
the Directive (see further below). For this reason the JWP will dedicate
its second meeting (scheduled for the 20th May 2005) to this single
issue and it will invite the relevant responsible Commission Officials to
attend too.
The RIAI Publishes an
Independent Fees Survey
The Royal Institute of
the Architects of Ireland has published the results of an independent survey of
RIAI Practices Fees and Charges for the period 2001-2004. It was
conducted by Millward Brown, the largest research agency in Ireland. The
survey was based on a postal survey of all 455 RIAI practices of whom 167
responded. It can be purchased from the RIAI through its website at:
The ACE Adopts a new
Graphic Charter
The ACE has adopted a
new Graphic Charter for its documents that has entailed a modernisation of its
logo and approach to document management. This edition of ACE Info
is an example of the new approach which, it is hoped, will give to all
documents produced by the ACE and its working structure a distinctive and
easily recognisable graphic presence.
The ACE Strengthens its
Co-operation with EUROCITIES
The EU Institutions
increasingly see cities as the places where their policies and legislation has
the most effect. This is because about 80% of the population of the EU
live in urbanised areas and it is in cities that most of the problems facing
society emerge. This perception has been reflected by the increased
political priority that cities have been granted over recent years.
EUROCITIES is a network of large European cities and it has recently launched
its Strategic Plan for the future. The member cities of EUROCITIES, at
its conference and AGM in Vienna in November 2004, jointly agreed to engage in
closer co-operation with the EU Institutions and national governments.
The “Vienna Declaration” sets out a series of specific proposals for
strengthening this co-operation in order to improve policy-making and
implementation at all levels.
At the same time, EUROCITIES
has reinforced its co-operation with the ACE, particularly in relation to the
establishment of the Intergroup in the European Parliament on Urban and
Housing. Both organisations are active members of the external core group
of stakeholders to the Intergroup and they now meet regularly to co-ordinate
potential inputs to the Intergroup. The ACE hopes that, through this
co-operation, it can identify pathways by which architectural policy can become
an integral part of urban and territorial policies. A further sign of the
increased co-operation between the two organisations will be demonstrated at
the Luxembourg event of the European Forum for Architectural Policies (see
further below) at which EUROCITIES will be making a presentation.
Further information can
be found at:
The CNOA Wishes to
Establish an Economic Observatory for the Profession
The Conseil National de
l’Ordre des Architectes (France) has published its wish to see the
establishment of a permanent economic Observatory for the architectural
profession in France. The objective would be to better record, and
therefore understand, the actual situation of the profession in France.
It has appointed the IFOP (Institut Francaise d’Opinion Publique) to carry out
a feasibility study on the idea. It is expected that the Observatory
would serve to get to know the profession better, understand how society
perceives the profession and to observe how the profession adapts to the
challenges it faces. The ACE will be watching the results carefully as it
has mooted the idea of a similar Observatory at EU level for the profession and
is in the process of establishing the parameters for a study of the sector at
EU level.
Qualifications Directive
As reported in the last
issue of ACE Info the Second Reading of the Qualifications is now
underway. The rapporteur in the Parliament, Mr. Stefano Zappala, produced
his report on the 15th March and it was debated at the meeting of
the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Affairs. The deadline
for the tabling of amendments was announced as being the 31st March
2005. The Report (ref: PE 355.450v01-00) can be downloaded from the
website of the Parliament at the following address:
http://www.europarl.eu.int/meetdocs/2004_2009/organes/IMCO/IMCO_20050315_1500.htm
The ACE joined with the
6 health professions currently covered by a sectoral directive (doctors,
pharmacistes, dentists, veterinarians, nurses and midwives)to issue a Joint
Statement and a suggested amendment to the directive on the issue of ensuring a
formal and legally binding provision that will ensure that the professions are
properly consulted in matters relating to the operation of the Directive.
Specifically the suggested amendment would ensure that the European
Organisations of each of the 7 professions would be granted observer status on
the Regulatory Committee that will be set up by the Directive. It is
expected that the Parliamentary Committee will vote on the Zappala report at
its meeting on the 19th April and that the vote in Plenary will take
place on the 11th May 2005. A copy of the Joint Statement can
be downloaded from the ACE Website at:
Directive on Services in
the Internal Market
There has been a great
deal of agitation across the EU on this proposal since the last edition of ACE
Info. It was a major agenda item at the Spring Summit of EU Heads of State
and Governments. However the outcome of all this agitation is that the
proposal stands and it will continue its course through the normal co-decision
process in the Parliament and in Council. The only aspect that the
Commission has confirmed it will amend is that health services and
(publicly-funded) services of general interest will be exempted from the
directive. It is possible that the Commission will propose a separate
directive for services of general interest at the time it tables an amended
proposal for this directive. The amended proposal will only be delivered
after the completion of the First Reading.
Progress in Parliament
has been delayed a little and it is now thought that the First Reading in
Parliament will take place on or about the 28th September 2005.
A study of the economic
consequences of the Directive was carried out by a Danish consultancy for the
Commission and the results were released in early March. The study shows
that the proposed directive will produce significant economic gains in all
Member States with the creation of about 600,000 jobs throughout the EU and an
increase in consumption of about 37 billion EUR. The full report and its
annexes can be downloaded from the website of the Commission (item number 3)
at:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/en/services/services/index.htm#2004proposal
The European
Construction Technology Platform (ECTP)
On the 1st
March 2005 the first meeting of the High Level Group of the ECTP took place in
Brussels in the presence of the Commissioner for Research, Mr. Janez Potocnik, who
gave the Opening Address. In that speech he underlined the importance of
Technology Platforms to the future of EU-funded research in Europe, making a
link to increased spending on research and the achievement of the Lisbon
objectives. He also acknowledged the importance of the construction
sector and of his hopes that the ECTP would lead to significant transformations
within the sector to the benefit of the EU. The architectural profession
is represented on the High Level Group by the UK architect, Ian Ritchie, who
was nominated by the ACE for the post. For more information on the event
and for the text of the Commissioners speech, see:
Intergroup on Urban and
Housing in the European Parliament
The first, constituent,
meeting of the formal Intergroup in the European Parliament “Urban and Housing”
took place in Strasbourg on the 24th February 2005. The Bureau
was elected and consists of the President, Jean-Marie Beaupuy (ALDE-France) and
5 Vice-presidents:
Jan Olbrycht
(EPP-Poland)
Arlene McCarthy (PES-UK)
Alain Hutchinson
(PES-Belgium)
Lambert Van Nistelrooij
(EPP-The Netherlands)
Alfonso Andria
(ALDE-Italy)
A working group
dedicated to hosing was also established and it hopes to hold its first meeting
before the summer break. The meeting decided that four meetings of the
Intergroup should be held each year with three being held in Strasbourg and one
being held in another city. It is clear that this Intergroup will offer
to the ACE and to other external stakeholders, a golden opportunity for sharing
information with the Parliament on matters that affect urban issues and housing
and, beyond that, to other matters that affect the built environment.
The European Forum for
Architectural Policies (EFAP)
The EFAP is an informal
co-operation network that brings together government administrations,
professional organisations and cultural institutes in which the ACE is closely
involved. A first result of this co-operation led to the adoption by the
European Council, on 12 February 2001, of a Resolution on Architectural Quality
in the Urban and Rural Environments. A review of the impact of the
resolution is currently under way, and the EU Ministers of Culture will be
meeting with the EFAP during a plenary session of an EFAP event organised as
part of the official activities during the Luxembourg Presidency of the
European Union, in Luxembourg on 27th June 2005. The review is
being conducted by Michael O’Doherty, retired Chief Architect of the Office of
Public Works in Ireland, on behalf of the EFAP and it is expected that this
review will demonstrate the benefits that the resolution has brought together
with a realisation of the need to adopt architectural policies where they do
not already exist. More information on the EFAP can be found at:
http://www.architecture-forum.net/
Commission Granted
Mandate to Negotiate Mutual Recognition Agreements for Architectural Services
The 133 Committee, which
consists of representatives of the Member States and representative of the
European Commission, has granted a mandate to the Commission to allow it to
conduct negotiations for Mutual Recognition Agreements for architectural
services with third countries or groups of countries. The Commission had
originally requested a general mandate that would have allowed it to negotiate
agreements in all professional service areas. This means that
architecture will be a “spearhead” profession in these negotiations. The
ACE is pleased with this development as it has already negotiated, at
professional level, a Mutual Recognition Agreement with Mexico and negotiations
are at an advanced stage with both the USA and Canada. Negotiations with
Chile and China have also been commenced, but they are in the early
stages. The Commission has assured the ACE that it will not be initiating
any negotiations unless the professions have already concluded agreements at
professional level. This means that Mexico will be the first country that
the Commission will initiate negotiations with.
Questionnaire on the
European Commission’s Market Access Database
The Directorate General
for Trade runs a database that contains information on access to global markets.
It has, in the context of the Lisbon Strategy and its emphasis on strengthening
the competitiveness of the EU economy, launched a questionnaire on the
effectiveness of the database. The objective is to improve the quality of
the service that the database provides to its users. If you are
interested in taking part, you can do so by logging on to the following
address:
http://europa.eu.int/yourvoice/forms/dispatch?form=397
Brussels Lobbyists Adopt
Revised Code of Ethics
Professional lobbyists –
or public affairs professionals – as well as the Commission have come under
mounting pressure from citizen organisations to promote ethics and transparency
in the way corporate interests are represented in Brussels. In reply to
these pressures, the Society of European Affairs Professionals (SEAP) has
issued a revised version of its voluntary, self-regulatory code of conduct.
Commission Database
CONECCS
The Secretariat General
of the European Commission runs a database named Consultation, the European
Commission and Civil Society known as CONECCS. The database gives
information on non-profit civil society organisations organised at European
level. The Commission uses the database as a tool for the identification
of target groups for the Commission’s consultation processes. The ACE is
a registered organisation in the database, which can be viewed at:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/civil_society/coneccs/index_en.htm
PRESUD: A Tool for
Cities Towards Sustainable Development
The PRESUD (Peer Review
for European Sustainable Development) project was launched to create
implementation tools capable of measuring the quality and effectiveness of
existing sustainable development policies. The project has now been
completed and the tools developed will soon be available to all. For
further information go to:
NACE Classifications
Revised
The Classification of
Economic Activities in the European Community (NACE) is due to be revised from
2007 onwards. This classification is internationally recognised and
contains codes by which economic activities can be recognised and compared
across borders, particularly in global negotiations such as those carried out
under the auspices of the WTO and in statistical analysis of activities.
For further information visit:
http://forum.europa.eu.int/irc/dsis/nacecpacon/info/data/en/index.htm
Infringement Procedures
– Public Procurement – Recognition of Qualifications
The Commission has
decided to send a warning letter to Spain and the United Kingdom for
irregularities observed in public procurement. In the case of Spain the
warning relates to “the procedures for awarding an architectural competition
for developing Isthem de Santa Catalina in Las Palmas and in the case of the
United Kingdom to the procedures used for the construction of the Scottish
Parliament in Holyrood, Edinburgh.
The Commission has also
decided to send a reasoned opinion to Portugal about its practice to make it
compulsory for architects from other Member States to sit an entrance exam in
order to be able to join the Portuguese Order of Architects. The
Commission believes that this obligation runs counter to Directive 85/384/EC on
mutual recognition of diplomas, certificates and other qualifications.
Accession Treaty for
Bulgaria and Romania Ready to be Signed on 25th April
On the 22nd
February last, the Commission gave a favourable opinion to the accession of
Bulgaria and Romania to the EU on the 1st January 2007. The
opinion came at the official conclusion of accession negotiations with the two
countries at the European Council of 17th December 2004 and the
finalisation of the accession treaty, which is now ready to be signed in
Luxembourg on the 25th April. The favourable opinion of the
Parliament must also be forthcoming and it is scheduled to consider the matter
on the 13th April 2005. The representative architectural
organisations of both countries are already Observer Member of the ACE and they
will become full Member on the accession of their countries to the EU.
Parliament Supports
Energy Efficiency Measures for Electrical Goods
The Environment
Committee of the European Parliament has voted overwhelmingly in favour of
measures to improve the energy efficiency of everyday consumer electrical
products such as hairdryers, computers and heaters. One MEP characterised
the directive as “the most underestimated proposal of the Community legislative
arsenal” saying that its implementation will allow the EU to meet over 50% of
its commitment under the Kyoto Protocol. For more information (under item
10) see the Parliament website at:
http://www.europarl.eu.int/meetdocs/2004_2009/organes/ENVI/ENVI_20050314_1500.htm
UK Sustainable
Communities Conference – Danuta Huebner Speech
Speaking at the
“Delivering Sustainable Communities Conference” in Manchester in March, the
European Commissioner responsible for regional policy, Danuta Huebner,
explained how EU-funded regional policy can help run-down areas to develop
their potential and contribute to growth and to the development of the
knowledge economy over the next ten years. The full speech (which is
reference SPEECH/05/59) can be found at:
Better Regulation for
Growth and Jobs in the European Union
The Commission has
tabled a package for better regulation in the EU that aims to cut red tape and
lead to more growth in the EU economy. It states that improving the
quality of regulation can significantly spur growth in the EU economy and
business. The Commission proposes a number of actions such as improved
impact assessment, more simplification, pilot projects to reduce administrative
burdens, alternatives to legislation and consulting citizens. The
proposals can be viewed at:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/regulation/better_regulation/better_reg_com_en.pdf
United Nations Decade of
Education for Sustainable Development Launched
The UNESCO Director
General, Koichiro Matsuura launched, on the 1st March 2005, the
United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development at the UN
Headquarters in New York. The main goal of the decade (2005-2014) is to
encourage the governments of Member States to integrate the concept of
sustainable development into their education policies and into all aspects of
learning to bring about behavioural changes that will usher in a more viable
and just society. More information on the UNESCO website at:
http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=27234&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
Commission Launches
“Your Europe” Portal
On the 7th
March last the European Commission launched its new portal site “Your Europe”
which aims to provide easy-to-access information on the EU to citizens and
businesses, particularly on cross-border movement. The new site replaces
three earlier websites on dialogue with citizens, dialogue with business and
public services. It is expected that it will provide valuable information
and advice to its users and it is available in all official languages of the
EU. It can be seen at:
http://europa.eu.int/youreurope
The European Parliament
Dismisses the Environment and Health Action Plan 2004-2010
On the 23rd
February last, the European Parliament backed a report by its rapporteur,
Frederique Ries (ALDE, Belgium) that dismissed the Commission’s Environment and
Health Action Plan 2004-2010, mainly for falling short on the legislative
proposals initially promised in the European environment and health strategy
(known as SCALE). The plan is part of SCALE which was adopted in June
2003 under the joint responsibility of the Commissioners responsible for
environment, health and research. The highly critical report can be
downloaded at:
Measuring Your Companies
Environmental Impact
Published by James and
James, this book provides templates and tools for a complete ISO 14001 initial
review of your company. It is retailing at a normal price of 125 STG and
can be ordered by e-mail at:
UIA world congress -
istanbul
Time is short and the
UIA World Congress of architects is just four months away. You are invited to
look at the programme and events that are planned for this Bazaar of
Architectures at:
www.uia2005istanbul.org
and to register to attend the events.
International
Regeneration – What can we Learn?
This is a two-day event,
incorporating a conference, dinner and study tour, that is scheduled for the 9th
and 10th May in the City of Derry, Northern Ireland. It is
being organised by the British Urban Regeneration Association (BURA) on whose
website full details can be found:
Culture For All
The European Institute
for Design and Disability (EIDD) is organising this conference on the 12th
and 13th may 2005 in Berlin. The main themes that the
conference will address are: cultural heritage - access to buildings, nature
reserves and artefacts; urban environments and public transport in a cultural
context and cultural tourism and marketing. Full details can be found at:
8th World
Congress of Metropolis
To be held in Berlin on
the 11th to the 15th May 2005, this congress has as a
theme “Tradition and Transformation – The Future of the City”. Full
details at:
Restructuring Large
Housing Estates in Europe
To be held in Ljubljana
on the 19th to the 21st May 2005, this conference is
being organised in the context of the European RESTATE project. Full
details at:
http://www.restate.geog.uu.nl/conference/
New Urbanity for the
Existing Townscape
The Centre of Urban and
Regional Studies at the Helsinki University of Technology is hosting the
eleventh edition of the IFHP Summer School in Finland under this theme.
It will run from the 15th to the 28th August 2005 and
full details can be found at:
www.hut.fi/Units/Separate/YTK/educat/intevents.html
Seminar on EU Fact
Finding
The College of Europe is
offering this short (half day) seminar on how to optimise on-line research of
EU-related information. It will be run, in the ULB campus in Brussels, on
a number of days, giving a choice to intending participants. The dates
are the 29th April, the 20th May or the 24th
June 2005. The cost of attendance is 265 EUR and you can register on-pine
at:
European Competition
Day: Competition rules and Liberal Professions
To be held on the 3rd
May 2005 in Luxembourg under the Presidency of the EU this conference will
promote the right to competition in the Member States of the EU. Further
information at:
http://www.eco.public.lu/actualites/conferences/2005/05/03_journee_conc/
SB04MED Conference
To be held on the 9th
to the 11th June 2005 in Athens, this event will be a full part of
the SB04 regional event series organised in preparation for the Global
Sustainable Building Conference 2005 to be held in Tokyo in September
2005. The culmination of the event will be the Sustainable Building and
Construction Mediterranean Report that will deal with regional issues that
arise in relation to the subject. Full details can be found at:
http://sd-med2005.conferences.gr
Voyage Through Europe:
Architectural Experiences, Visions and Realties
To be held on the 27th
and 28th May 2005 in Trieste, this conference will be a mixture of
culture and debate o the practical aspects of the architectural
profession. Further information can be received on request from the ACE
Secretariat.
Intersolar 2005
To be held on the 23rd
to the 25th June 2005 in Freiburg, Intersolar 2005 is Europe’s
bigges fair for solar thermal technology, photovoltaics and solar
architecture. The European Solar Thermal Energy Conference will be held
on the 21st and 22nd June so as to facilitate those who
wish to attend both events. Full details can be found at:
Rural Design Forum
Conference
To be held on the 22nd
and the 23rd June 2005 I York, this conference will anticipate the
post-CAP situation and its impact on rural design vernacular and post
agricultural landscapes. Details will be posted on the following website:
Royal Canal – Linear
Park Competition (Ireland)
This competition is
being organised by the RIAI and is an open two-stage design contest competition
for the architectural/landscape/design services for an urban park on the Royal
Canal. Deadline for registration is the 10th May 2005 with a
deadline for entries for the first stage of the same day. More details
can be found at:
http://www.riai.ie/index.html?id=6597
Visitor Centre for the
Giants Causeway (Northern Ireland)
An International Architectural
Design Competition for design of a world class visitor facility for the Giants
Causeway in Northern Ireland has been announced by the Department of
Enterprise, Trade and Investment in London. The objective is to ensure
that the wining design will reflect the status of the Giants Causeway as a
World Heritage Site. The competition is to be administered by the UIA and
the competition brief will be published in May 2005. Further details will
be published then.
European Commission homepage
http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/index_en.htm
Search page for
Commission documents
http://www.europa.eu.int/prelex/rech_simple.cfm?Cl=en
The Barroso Commission:
Http://europa.eu.int/comm/commission_barroso/index_en.htm
Website of the
Luxembourg Presidency
http://www.eu2005.lu/en
(then choose your preferred language)
Sustainable building
website
COAC international
relations database:
http://www.coac.net/internacional/default_w.html
CNAPPC database -
ArchiEurope:
http://www.archieuro.archiworld.it
Website of the European
construction technology platform:
EU impact assessment in
practice
Consult a list of impact
assessments that the EU has carried out on various legislative packages at:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/secretariat_general/impact/index_en.htm
ACE website
Useful tip:
In the website addresses
given in ACE Info for the documents of the EU, you will frequently see
the following near the end of the address: “_en”. These two letters
define the language of the document (English in the case of “en”) and you can
usually change these two letters in order to bring you to a different language
version as follows:
French
_fr
German _de
Danish
_da
Swedish _sv
Italian
_it
Spanish _es
Greek
_el
Dutch _nl
Portuguese
_pt
Finnish
_fi
Czech
_cs
Maltese _mt
Estonian
_et
Latvian
_lv
Lithuanian _lt
Polish _pl
Hungarian
_hu
Slovene
_sl
Slovak _sk
The editorial board for
the compilation of ACE Info is:
The ACE
President:
Marie-Helene Lucas
The Secretary General of
the
ACE:
Alain Sagne
Senior Advisor to the
ACE:
Adrian Joyce
ACE Info is normally issued
around the second Wednesday of each month. You are free to circulate the
document as widely as you wish, to translate its contents for use in your
publications and to refer to the information it contains once you credit the
ACE as the origin.
If you wish to receive
ACE Info regularly and you are not on the mailing list, you can register online
at: http://www.ace-cae.org/Public/fsPublicNetwork_EN.html
If you have information
that you wish to have included in the next issue then e-mail it (in English or
French please) to adrian.joyce@ace-cae.org
Deadline for submissions is the first Friday of each month.
The editorial board
wishes to acknowledge the sources of information for this issue of ACE Info
which include EFCA, FEANI, URBACT, the Euractiv website (www.euractiv.com) and Bulletin Quotidien
Europe.
adrian.joyce@ace-cae.org
- Comments and contributions welcome