The 40-year-old architect, who is also a podcaster and former political candidate, said on Wednesday (8 April) that she would bring \u2018campaigning energy and a strong voice to the profession\u2019 were she to be elected.<\/p>\n
Morton said: \u2018The profession is at a turning point and needs to make a stronger case for itself. With the support of my practice, I feel it is the right moment to bring my experience in politics and architecture together to provide a loud and influential voice.\u2019<\/p>\n
Explaining why her practice and politics made her the best woman for the job, Morton said she could \u2018get architects back in the room where decisions are made\u2019.<\/p>\n
She added that she would ensure \u2018the profession shapes policy on housing, planning and growth\u2019, rather than just responding to it.<\/p>\n
\u2018I am different because I am a leader in both practice and politics,\u2019 she said in her nomination statement. \u2018I understand how decisions are made, how to influence them, and how to get things done.\u2019<\/p>\n
Morton is a member of the Labour Party and is running to be a councillor in the London Borough of Lewisham in next month\u2019s local elections, standing in the Brockley ward. In 2019, she unsuccessfully ran as a parliamentary candidate<\/a> for Labour in the general election.<\/p>\n Morton\u2019s two-page nomination statement called for \u2018design leadership in local authorities\u2019 in the form of city and regional architects appointed under every mayor to shape long-term development \u2013 a cause Morton said she would champion if elected.<\/p>\n Other issues Morton promises to focus on include \u2018defining the role of architects\u2019 in the age of AI, \u2018reform procurement to deliver quality, value and safety\u2019, strengthen national and international collaboration, and push for the creation of a \u2018National Construction Innovation Taskforce\u2019.<\/p>\n If elected president, she said she would promote the value of architecture to government and public, and continue Williamson\u2019s championing of the need to protect the function of architects.<\/p>\n But speaking to the AJ, Morton said it was \u2018important the RIBA president is a practising architect\u2019.<\/p>\n In December<\/a> the institute\u2019s current president, Chris Williamson, made headlines by resigning from the ARB<\/a> , saying he wanted to draw attention to the \u2018ineffectiveness\u2019 of the current regulatory system.<\/p>\n Morton is also host of the Architects for Change<\/a> podcast, which regularly interviews influential figures inside and outside the industry. \u2018I have built a public voice for the profession across media, policy and campaigning,\u2019 she said. \u2018I know how to communicate clearly, confidently and with impact, from the public to policymakers.\u2019<\/p>\n Morton became a director<\/a> at housing and regeneration practice Bell Phillips in 2024. She is also a member of Architects Action 4 Affordable Housing<\/a>.<\/p>\n Nominations to become president, and for other roles in the RIBA elections, opened on 1 April and close on 15 April. Voting opens on 15 June.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 40-year-old architect, who is also a podcaster and former political candidate, said on Wednesday (8 April) that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,164837,1120,96,182179,182180,155472,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-524726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-bell-phillips-architects","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-jay-morton","tag-riba-election","tag-riba-president","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=524726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/524727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}