1957 Helping refugees

The RIBA council has agreed that the institute should act as a “clearing house” for the settlement of refugee architects from Hungary following the Soviet invasion of the country in November.

It is anticipated that the problem will be threefold. The immediate and emergency problem will be to find temporary accommodation , which must include board and lodging over Christmas and into the new year.

The aim will be to get people out of transit camps and into an English home where they can more rapidly learn the language.

The second problem will be to find jobs for qualified men and to get students settled at schools of architecture.

The third will be to get them established in permanent accommodation and provide them with funds to tide them over until they begin to draw salaries.

The RIBA council requests, as a matter of urgency, that anyone who can offer hospitality over the Christmas period or offer board and lodging for a longer period write in to the secretary of the RIBA.

More important still, paid employment of a temporary or a more permanent nature is urgently needed and employers that would be prepared to take an assistant are asked to write to the RIBA stating the approximate standard of the assistant who could be taken, the address of the office and the salary offered.

It should be noted that the normal rates of remuneration must be offered in accordance with the requirements of the Ministry of Labour and National Service.