The Datum Report

Occupation 2452 · Professional occupations

Chartered architectural technologists, planning officers and consultants

Half of full-time chartered architectural technologists, planning officers and consultants in the UK earn more than £36,457 a year, and half earn less.

Chartered architectural technologists, planning officers and consultants direct or undertake the planning of the layout and the co-ordination of plans for the development of urban and rural areas, provide architectural design services, and negotiate and manage the development from conception to completion of construction projects and lead on a variety of technical functions and solutions in the design of buildings and the layout of urban and rural areas.

How people enter it

Entrants possess a variety of qualifications including GCSEs/S grades, a BTEC/SQA award, an Honours or Masters degree. Membership of professional institutions may be required for some posts. To gain professional status an accredited Honours degree or postgraduate qualification is usually required, as well as continuing professional development. Chartered Architectural Technologists must join the Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists and satisfy its’ education, practice and professional standards to qualify via an accredited honours degree or equivalent, monitored and assessed practical experience and pass a professional interview. Town planners are also required to complete at least two years of work experience.

What the work involves

• analyses information to establish the nature, extent, growth rate and likely development requirements of the area
• examines and evaluates development proposals, consults statutory bodies and other interested parties to ensure that local interests are catered for and recommends acceptance, modification or rejection drafts and presents graphic and narrative plans affecting the use of public and private land, housing and transport facilities
• develops construction project briefs and design programmes and advises clients on methods project procurement, environmental, regulatory, legal and contractual issues and assesses environmental impact
• monitors compliance with design, statutory, and professional requirements, administers contracts and certification, carries out design stage risk assessments and manages health and safety
• evaluates and advises on refurbishment, recycling and deconstruction of buildings
• prepares designs, building plans and drawings for use by contracts and investigates proposed design with regard to practicality, cost and use
• surveys land uses and prepares report for planning authority and issues development permits as authorised
• liaises with engineers and building contractors regarding technical construction problems and attends site meetings, as the lead consultant or as part of the team.
• provides expert advice on issues related to planning and development, including practical, regulatory, legal and statutory matters
• Chartered architectural technologists specialise in design, underpinned by building science, engineering and technology applied to architecture within projects.

Also called

Architectural consultant · Chartered architectural technologist · Construction planner · Planning officer (building construction ) · Town planner

What it pays

How pay has changed

Median gross annual pay for chartered architectural technologists, planning officers and consultants, full-time employees, 2023 to 2025. Each point is that year's ASHE April snapshot as published — revisions are not backfilled into earlier years, and a year ONS withheld is a gap rather than a joined line.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Year-on-year change

The change from each year to the next, in per cent, computed from the figures in the chart above — so the two cannot disagree.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Pay by region

Median gross annual pay for full-time employees, ranked, against the UK figure. 2 of 11 regions are published: ONS withholds a cell where the survey sample cannot support it, and those are shown as gaps rather than dropped — an absent region is not a region without the work in it.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Period 2025. Table

Every regional figure

ONS does not publish occupational pay below region. Cells the survey could not support are shown as withheld, with its reason — adding a region split to a specific occupation leaves roughly a tenth of cells publishable.

Common questions

Classified alongside this

Architects · Chartered surveyors · Construction project managers and related professionals · Quantity surveyors