BIID Registered Interior Designer®

The British Institute of Interior Design (BIID) today announces a new protected title for professional interior designers, BIID Registered Interior Designer®.  This new title is a way for clients, designers and other built environment professionals to identify interior designers who have met the BIID’s rigorous professional standard.  

The BIID will hold a Register of these professionals which clients will be able to use as an essential resource.  Requirements for the title are:

·         6 years of education and work experience;

·         The support of professional referees;

·         Professional indemnity insurance;

·         Successful completion of a face to face Registration Assessment where a demonstration of extensive professional practice knowledge must be evidenced through presentation of a completed design project.

Once a designer has become a BIID Registered Interior Designer® they must adhere to the BIID’s Code of Conduct and annual Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirement to remain on the Register. In addition to being able to describe themselves as a BIID Registered Interior Designer® individuals will also be able to use the post nominals RegID after their name.

The ‘Registered’ professional title is already well recognised in the built environment, with fellow Construction Industry Council (CIC) member the Association of Project Management (APM) launching their APM Registered Project Professional standard in 2011. The BIID is hoping that the launch of this new title will bring much needed clarity to the current field – whilst in the UK the term ‘architect’ is a legally protected title, governed by the Architects Registration Board (ARB), there is no similar government regulation for interior design.

Daniel Hopwood, BIID President, comments;

“We are absolutely delighted to be launching BIID Registered Interior Designer® and we are confident that it will provide a much needed professional benchmark for our industry. This current widespread title confusion between Interior Designer, Interior Architect and Interior Decorator is not helpful for designers, students or clients. Interior Designer is the best descriptor for the complex mix of knowledge, skills and experience required to design interior space, which of course includes extensive knowledge of interior architecture and interior decoration. This view, combined with the fact that the use of the Registered title is already well established in the UK construction sector, led to the development of BIID Registered Interior Designer®.

“BIID Registered Interior Designer® is a symbol that an individual has met our high standards of professional competence and we are hoping the new title will raise standards across the profession at every level. It is also a Registered trademark and use of the logo will be strictly controlled to ensure only those designers who have met the rigorous standard are able to use the title”.

Jane Duncan, President of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), the UK body for architecture and the architectural profession, comments; “The RIBA welcomes the new BIID Registered Interior Designer® title. It will provide a useful benchmark for other professionals in the built environment sector to understand that an interior designer has met robust professional standards of practice.”

Sebastiano Renari, President of The International Federation of Interior Architects/Designers (IFI), comments; “As President of IFI, representing the world community of interior architecture and design and on behalf of the world community of interiors experts, I am proud of the BIID for your achievement. It is only with this kind of standard setting that the profession can excel in achieving a societal greatness. All members of the International Federation of Interior Architects/Designers recognise your efforts and congratulate your success.”

BIID President Daniel Hopwood launched the new Registered Interior Designer® title to BIID members on Thursday 17th March at design brand Ochre’s stunning Clerkenwell showroom.