IQSK Opens Member Consultation on New Architects and Quantity Surveyors Bill

The Institute of Quantity Surveyors of Kenya (IQSK) has opened a consultation window for members to submit their views on a Bill that would reshape how architects, quantity surveyors and related built environment professionals are trained, registered and licensed in the country.

The Architectural and Quantity Surveying Practitioners Bill, National Assembly Bill No. 47 of 2026, is currently before Parliament's Thirteenth Session. It was sponsored by Hon. Joseph K. Tonui and had its First Reading before being referred to the National Assembly's Departmental Committee on Housing, Urban Planning and Public Works.

If passed, the Bill would repeal and replace the existing Architects and Quantity Surveyors Act, Cap 525, which currently governs both professions jointly. The new law keeps that dual scope while widening it to cover a broader range of built environment practitioners.

Beyond architects and quantity surveyors, the Bill extends to landscape architects, interior designers, construction project managers and related technical professionals. IQSK members have flagged this broadened coverage as one of the areas likely to draw the most professional interest and debate.

The Bill also proposes harmonising how these professions are regulated, bringing architecture and quantity surveying together with the newly added disciplines under a single framework. It further provides for establishing an Architecture and Quantity Surveying Practitioners Board to oversee registration, licensing and professional conduct across all covered professions.

IQSK is asking members to review the Bill's provisions and submit specific comments, proposed amendments and recommendations through a feedback survey, rather than general reactions. The institute has set an internal deadline of August 21 at 11:59pm for members to respond.

That timeline runs ahead of the formal public participation window opened by Parliament. The Clerk of the National Assembly, S. Njoroge, issued a notice on August 18 inviting the public and stakeholders to submit memoranda on the Bill and four others currently before the House.

Under that wider invitation, published in compliance with Article 118(1)(b) of the Constitution, memoranda on the Architectural and Quantity Surveying Practitioners Bill are due to the relevant committee by 5pm on Monday, August 31. Submissions can be hand delivered to Parliament Buildings, posted, or emailed to the Clerk's office.

IQSK's internal survey is expected to feed into a consolidated institute position, which would then form part of the formal memorandum submitted to the Housing, Urban Planning and Public Works Committee ahead of the parliamentary deadline.

The Bill is one of five currently open for public input, alongside proposed amendments to the Pensions Act, the Commissions of Inquiry Act, the Foreign Service Act and the Statutory Instruments Act, each referred to a different departmental committee for consideration.

For architects and quantity surveyors alike, the outcome of this Bill will directly determine future licensing requirements, registration structures and the regulatory board overseeing professional practice, making member input during this window particularly consequential for both professions.