PART 4 LAUNCH

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London School of Architecture Launches Ground-Breaking Part 4 Programme – Modular Learning for Professional Practice.

The London School of Architecture has today announced the launch of its new Part 4 programme – a developing catalogue of digital and blended modular learning experiences for built environment practices and practitioners to access any time, anywhere.   Starting in May, these innovative, modular courses (half a day a week over 4-6 weeks) will be delivered in-person at LSA premises and seek to reclaim the CPD and training landscape as a truly educational tool. The programme will ultimately save practices time and resources by providing a one-stop shop for their staff training and development, help practitioners meet regulatory requirements and further develop their skills and competencies.

The LSA has teamed up with subject-specific experts and a wide range of practitioners from across the built environment to develop the programme. Carrying the school’s ethos of its Part 2 programme into the new Part 4, the courses will place design at the heart of its learning experiences.

These design-focused learning opportunities will answer specifically to:

• ARB’s beefed-up powers under the Building Safety Act to monitor ongoing competency
• RIBA’s Mandatory Core Competencies for Chartered Membership

The first course beginning in May is called Design For Life? Fire Safety and Property Resilience and will focus on:

• Health and Life Safety (RIBA Mandatory Core Competency)
• Fire and Life Safety (ARB requirement)
• Property Protection and Resilience (extending beyond the current regulatory frameworks).

The LSA will then follow up with further courses including:

• Meeting EDI, Social Value and similar requirements in Procurement Processes
• Social Heritage, Community Use and Heritage-Led Regeneration (with the
  Architectural Heritage Fund)

It is also in the initial stages of developing programmes around:

• Ethical Practice (RIBA Mandatory Core Competency)
• Climate Literacy (RIBA Mandatory Core Competency)
• Housing Design

As a not-for-profit organisation, the profit made from all Part 4 courses go directly back into the school’s core mission of supporting those from underserved and underrepresented demographics in architecture into a career in the built environment.  So, whilst developing skills, practices are also supporting the charitable objectives of the LSA – a truly reciprocal relationship.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

WHY PART 4?

2020: A Call From Our Practice Network
In 2020 we engaged with our Practice Network to understand experiences of professional learning in its current form. Practice Network members shared frustration that quality professional learning material was difficult to find and time consuming in seeking out – they wanted someone to make their lives easier.

They challenged us to develop regular content for them and we responded with our “Collective Peer Development” programme – a series of weekly CPD sessions designed to have an afterlife, rather than just becoming another box ticking exercise and a free lunch.

2021: A Changing Regulatory Landscape
In 2021 the RIBA launched The Way Ahead – its Educational and Professional Development Framework – and the ARB published its consultation on CPD. Their ideas were similar to ours – both recognising the need for driving up competence in the profession, and recognising the commercial CPD market was failing to deliver. We responded by designing more robust training and development modules that would rise to the new regulatory standards practitioners would have to meet.

QUOTES:
Neal Shasore, Head of School, London School of Architecture.
“In a changing world, learning shouldn’t stop after Part 3. In fact, it should never stop.  We think that the LSA has a significant role to play in pioneering learning experiences oriented towards the renewed emphasis on core competency, business and design in the context of a challenging economic environment”

Find out more about our Part 4 programme