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SYNA Morocco was born in response to the many challenges that threaten the future of private architecture. The new union which is holding its first general assembly this Thursday, November 14, at the headquarters of the regional council of the Order of Architects of the Casablanca-Settat region, sets itself the objective of defending the interests of the profession which is under several pressures.
An avalanche of problems
“We encourage this initiative. A union is always welcome in any profession. It is a necessary and indispensable instrument for any liberal profession,” says Médias24, Mohamed Karim Sbaipresident of the regional council of the Order of Architects of the Casablanca-Settat region which hosts the general assembly of the new union.
The president of the regional council of the Order of Architects quotes “problems of all kinds”. Problems which are far from dating from today, our interlocutor would like to point out.
“The problems that private architecture is experiencing do not date from today. They relate to the exercise of the profession, to working conditions in relation to building authorizations, that is to say problems that we have in relation to the deadline for authorizations, in relation to the way in which the administrations examine our files, also in relation to the discrepancies that we face when we submit a file. There are also discrepancies between architects and administrations in relation to the opinions. issued by the latter.
Unfair competition exists […]This is not good, neither for the profession nor for the citizen
“We also have internal problems within the profession. However, there are architects who sign and do anything. Unfair competition, directly linked to architects’ fees, is the other big problem we face. We see that architects’ fees are falling more and more and, unfortunately, today we do not have the legal tool to set a minimum fee below which the private architect cannot. not fulfilling its mission. This is why unfair competition exists. He who works at the lowest price does not completely fulfill his mission. This is not good, neither for the profession nor for the citizen who looks for the lowest bidder, but ultimately finds himself with very big problems at his site, and very often safety problems as well as technical problems, for which the client pays dearly afterwards.
“The problems are therefore of all kinds. At the level of the Order, we are doing what is necessary to remedy these problems. But if there is another organization, such as the new union to help us overcome these challenges, he is always welcome,” concludes Mohamed Karim Sbai.
Signatures of convenience and biased competitions
Khalil Morad El Ghilaliarchitect and teacher at theEuro-Mediterranean University of Fezwelcomes this new momentum of mobilization. He believes that the work of the union will make it possible to fight against conflicts of interest resulting from the presence of public architects among the architects represented by the Order.
“It’s a superb initiative. It turns out that at the level of the Order, we have both public and private actors. Conflicts of interest result in fact. When you become a public architect, you become a civil servant of the state. We thus defend the interests of the State which do not necessarily align with the interests of a private operator. The work of the union would fill this gap. The work behind it must still follow, and the intentions must be completely disinterested and serve the profession.”
Unfair competition, one of the key problems encountered by the profession, occurs at several levels, believes our interlocutor.
“Unfair competition is a whole network, mainly made up of some technicians at the level of municipal headquarters and urban agencies, which have developed over time a kind of completely immoral network, notably through signatures of convenience. The citizen, when he plans to carry out a plan, the first thing he does is to seek out, at the urban agency or municipality level, the building stakeholders. These actors are mainly technicians who come in this case to recover the client and sign plans since they have in the meantime been able to develop a network of private architects”, accuses our interlocutor.
“Unfair competition is also observed through biased competitions or completely rigged consultations. This is one of the biggest problems that the architect is currently facing.”
Architects’ fees, the other pitfall
“The architect commits his time and energy. Competitions are very, very expensive, between printing, salaries incurred and then sometimes even additional services, whether models or expensive renderings. Expenses are established in average around 40.000 DH and are almost never recoverable, since only the first five are awarded. We therefore have competitions with around twenty to around thirty participants, who ultimately do not get their money back at all. In addition to that, these are contests that are rigged, of which we already know the winners, which adds even more to the frustration,” continues our source.
The architect’s contribution is between 5% and 6% of the total amount of the implementation. In other countries, notably in France or Belgium, the average percentage is around 12% to 13%.
The remuneration from the private architect did not keep up with inflation, further notes the architect.
“The architect’s remuneration has remained very close to what it was before, despite the current economic crisis. The architect’s contribution amounts to between 5% et 6% of the total amount of the implementation. In other countries, notably in France or Belgium, the average percentage is around 12% to 13%. “That’s another thing to take into consideration.”
“Then there are grids which have not been updated at all since the 1980sor which have been slightly updated. We are still talking about major works which are 1,200 DH per square meterwhen in fact it no longer exists. So, it’s really all these questions which have been left aside, and which the union, I think, could take care of and around which it should try to develop an argument”, concludes Khalil Morad El Ghilali.
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