The Architects Act 1963 requires the Northern Territory Architects Board to be satisfied that an architect has attained or maintained an appropriate level of knowledge, skill and competence in each year of registration.

Continuing professional development requirements

Architects are required to accrue 20 continuing professional development (CPD) points annually, with a minimum of 10 points from formal CPD activities. A CPD report must be submitted to the board each year by the anniversary of their registration. This report is a mandatory condition for maintaining an active registration under the Act.

One hour of CPD activity is equal to one CPD point.

A half points can be claimed for activity lasting between 30 minutes and one hour.

CPD activities must be aligned with the following units of competency as per the National Standard of Competency in Architecture (NSCA), include:

• practice management and professional conduct
• project initiation and conceptual design
• detailed design and construction documentation
• design delivery and construction phase services.

For more information go to the NSCA website.

The architects must maintain a detailed record of CPD activities. You can use the CPD activity template to record all the activities.

• Record of CPD activity template

CPD activities

Formal CPD activities

• Attending a talk, seminar, lecture, or workshop - including online
• Giving or leading a talk, seminar, lecture, or workshop - including online
• Creating a course or curriculum for architecture at a college or university
• Writing articles, books, or papers for publication
• Taking part in assessment tasks as part of an architecture course at a college or university, like sitting exams, writing essays, or designing buildings for assessment

Informal CPD activities

• Studying on your own using materials designed to help architects learn new things or update their skills
• Visiting building sites, finished buildings, or exhibitions
• Taking part in a mentoring program for architects
• Teaching architecture at a college or university
• Grading or marking work done by architecture students at college or university
• Being an examiner or assessor for important architectural exams required to become a registered architect
• Helping out by serving on committees, panels, or advisory groups for architecture professional groups, regulatory bodies or government bodies

Exemption from CPD

You do not need to fulfil CPD requirements if you:

• have already applied to and been granted an exemption by the NT Architects Board and are still within your approved exempted period
• did not practice as an architect in Australia or provide architectural services in Australia for the entire registration year (for example, if you are retired, practising overseas, on maternity leave, unemployed, or working outside the architectural sector).

To apply to the board for an exemption, use below application form:

• Application for exemption from CPD activity DOCX (71.5 KB)
• Application for exemption from CPD activity PDF (585.7 KB)

You can use this CPD template DOCX (67.6 KB) to record all formal and informal activities and submit that record at the anniversary of registration.