To work as an architect in Victoria, including as an employee of an architectural firm or other organisation, you must be registered and have professional indemnity insurance (PII) cover. This covers you from any claim that you were negligent or breached your professional duty of care. It remains an individual architect's responsibility to ensure they have compliant cover.
Architects, approved companies and partnerships must provide proof of their insurance to the ARBV. The ARBV requires a Certificate of Currency (or equivalent) as proof of insurance.
In Victoria, proof of insurance must be provided upon expiry of the policy or when any changes occur, such as moving to a new insurer or when your employment situation changes. The ARBV does not accept proof of insurance sent to us directly. Proof of insurance must be updated directly via the ARBV Portal.
Refer to our PII information brochure for further information.
PII must meet the requirements of the Architects Insurance Ministerial Order (January 2020), including in regard to the amount of insurance by which the architect must be covered.
The following is a non-exhaustive list of the criteria required on the Certificate of Currency:
- It specifies the class of insurance is Professional Indemnity;
- The period of insurance is for a year, or for another period relevant to the circumstances but in all cases, a future date;
- The cover must specify the kind of PI insurance in relation to the indemnified. This means the scope of the cover provided could reference architectural services, architects, architecture or the name of the indemnified. This can include:
- the architect’s business, or
- the business as an architect of an approved partnership or approved company of which the Architect is or was a member, director, principal executive officer or employee.
- The limit of indemnity for each claim must be not less than $1 million, or $1.2 million where defence costs are included, or not less than $200,000 or 20 percent of the limit of indemnity for any one claim;
- The certificate must specify the name of the insured as being either the approved company or approved partnership, or in the alternative, the individual architect or the name of the sole practice. Proof of employment of an architect by the organisation insured under the policy may be accepted in lieu of production of a certificate of currency by an employee architect.
Find the requirements for architects' PII in the Architects Insurance Ministerial Order. Refer to page 5.
Contact your insurance provider if you have questions about your insurance.
Architects working for Local, State or Federal Government
Section 8A(2) of the Acts operates to allow architects in the employ of government or public statutory authorities to provide architectural services without registration.
For architects in this category who nevertheless choose to be registered, the ARBV may accept PII that does not meet the criteria set out above.
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