26th October 2011, 12:14 PM
As indicated by the article in The Archaeologist - IFA's magazine, this is quite probably a legally defensible position. As such it was only a matter of time before a Council stuck their neck out. I suspect this may relate to Council funded work/projects? In which case they would be well within their rights to expect a company to have an appropriate level of professional accreditation. However, it has also been suggested that this may also defensibly be applied in a development management context. Many consultancies only deal with ROs already - their clients - the developers are used to using subbies with some form of accreditation, so are unlikely to be surprised when this is required in respect of archaeological works.
As for the IFA having a poor record on enforcement and disciplining ROs I would dispute this. Even if it were true, it's surely better to have some standards and enforcement than the alternative presented by non-IFA members and non-ROs - i.e. nothing.
As for the IFA having a poor record on enforcement and disciplining ROs I would dispute this. Even if it were true, it's surely better to have some standards and enforcement than the alternative presented by non-IFA members and non-ROs - i.e. nothing.