CPD for Architecture Training Providers
If you deliver CPD to architects and you're not sure whether your certificates carry any real weight with the ARB or RIBA, that uncertainty is understandable but not a sign of a gap on your end. Neither body maintains an approved list of CPD providers. What they actually require is structured evidence that learning happened and that it maps to genuine outcomes — which is exactly what a well-built certificate can show, without a provider ever needing to sit on anyone's list.
What CPD accreditation actually means for an architecture training provider
The ARB Code of Conduct requires registered architects to maintain their competence throughout their careers, and RIBA recommends 35 hours of CPD a year, at least 20 of them structured. Neither body specifies which providers architects should use, and neither requires external accreditation from a private body. What they ask for is evidence that the CPD was genuine, structured, and relevant to practice — a test an aims-skills-outcomes certificate answers directly rather than a generic attendance note.
That matters because architectural CPD covers real technical ground: BIM Level 2 and Revit workflows, post-Grenfell fire safety obligations under the Building Safety Act 2022, and RIBA 2030 Climate Challenge subjects like whole-life carbon and Passivhaus principles. Each has clearly demonstrable outcomes — a practitioner who can model to a defined Level of Development, or coordinate a federated BIM model, has learned something specific and checkable.
Most architectural CPD is delivered to small groups by specialists — a heritage conservation seminar for ten practitioners, a half-day BIM workflow session for a practice, a fire safety update at a regional RIBA hub. The structure behind your certificate should reflect that scale rather than assume a term-length programme, with CPD hours set per session against genuine contact time.
Open CPD offers a simple 3 step process for you
Run your BIM, fire safety, sustainability or heritage CPD session as you already do.
Log in, set up the course profile, outcomes, hours, delivery mode, and accredit with one click.
Branded CPD certificates and digital badges are generated instantly for every learner.
What architects and employers actually check
An architect logging CPD for revalidation, or an employer's procurement team reviewing a training record, is not looking for a provider on an approved list — because neither the ARB nor RIBA maintains one. What they need is proof that the course had defined learning outcomes and that the certificate documenting it is genuine, not just professionally formatted.
A permanent, checkable verification link answers that directly. It doesn't claim RIBA or ARB approval, because no such approval exists to claim. It confirms the certificate is real, tied to an actual course record, and unaltered since issue — exactly the evidence a competence audit or a practice's own CPD log is built to accept.
Each certificate resolves to an achievement page anyone can open, no login, no PDF attachment.
Your logo and course name lead. Certificates are powered by Open CPD, issued by you.
Once issued, the record is stored immutably and stays tamper-proof, the date and detail cannot drift.
How this plays out for architecture training providers
Neither the ARB nor RIBA operates an approved-provider scheme, so the credentialing question for architectural training is never about getting on a list. It is about demonstrating, course by course, that the training delivers defined outcomes in a structured and verifiable way — which is what an aims-skills-outcomes certificate is built to show.
That applies whether you're delivering a BIM workflow session to a single practice, a fire safety update to a regional RIBA hub, or a heritage conservation seminar to a handful of specialists. The certificate carries the same structure and the same verification record regardless of group size.
The ARB and RIBA already set the competence standard — Open CPD documents that you've met it
Open CPD doesn't replace ARB registration or RIBA's CPD framework, and it isn't trying to. Architects already have a statutory regulator and a professional body setting expectations for competence. What Open CPD adds is the documentation layer — a structured record of aims, skills and outcomes, backed by a permanent verification link, that shows the CPD you delivered was genuine and specific rather than a generic attendance note.
Accredit your first architecture CPD session this week
Ready to see exactly how the structure comes together, aims, skills, outcomes, and the verification record that ties it all together? [How It Works](https://open-cpd.com/how-it-works/) walks through the full mechanism. Or [start now](https://open-cpd.com/opencpddemo/) and set up your first architecture course profile in minutes.