Architects and engineers in Manitoba go to court

A long-standing dispute between engineers and architects in Manitoba is reaching a head. For many years architects in the province have been upset with engineers designing buildings that the architects feel should be their responsibility.
The Manitoba Association of Architects has now applied for a court injunction to force the City of Winnipeg to require an architect be involved as the prime consultant on all buildings over 400 square metres in area. The Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Manitoba is opposing this move in the courts. The case is due to be heard in the third week of February.
A similar dispute over which profession should be the prime consultant on certain buildings has been reignited recently in the U.S. In August last year, the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards in the U.S. published, “Architecture as It Differs from Engineering.” In the document’s introduction, the council said they were reissuing the 1982 paper “in their continuing effort to prevent the unlawful practice of architecture by unlicensed persons. In many jurisdictions, chronic problems arise from engineers seeking to use their registration under the engineering registration act as a basis for designing buildings for human habitation.”