Architect Jack Pringle, who has long campaigned to improve the standing of the profession within the PFI process, is to be the next RIBA president.
A partner in the London firm of Pringle Brandon, he will succeed George Ferguson in September next year.

Pringle, 52, defeated 45-year-old Valerie Owen of London First, by 2998 votes to 2518 in a fifth ballot. The turnout was 22%. Six RIBA members stood for the election; the other four were eliminated in the previous rounds under a transferable vote system. The turnout was slightly less than in the last election.

Pringle campaigned on a five-page manifesto pack, which covered a range of issues including the reform of PFI, raising the salaries of architect and improving architectural education.

Speaking on the day as his election was announced Pringle said: "The manifesto is still pretty much intact. The question is about how to attack it. The first thing I want to do is to support George. The PFI issue will not wait until my term, and I am talking to George about tackling it. There's also low pay and support for small practices."

In his manifesto Pringle emphasised his image of architects as profession of free spirits. Its opening statement says: "I do not see architects homogeneously integrated into some PFI, design-build, over-regulated future."

Of PFI he said: "It alienates the architect from his/her client and saddles the public sector with a 30-year time bomb service contract." Instead he wanted to create what he called a "Smart-PFI" set of proposals to address these deficiencies.

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