UK and Irish members of the European Parliament are still hoping that an amendment to a Directive on professional qualifications will allow engineers and surveyors, as well as architects, to design buildings.

The EU Parliament rejected the amendment in February, but the Directive now, under the EU\'s co-decision procedure, has to be debated by the Council of Ministers. They are expected to adopt a Common Position in May. The UK and Ireland hope the amendment will be reinstated.

The amendment reads: "Building design may also be exercised by other professionals, in particular by Engineers, Building Surveyors and other appropriately qualified construction professionals who have undergone special training in the field of construction or the art of building."

The amendment was supported by a number of national and European-wide institutions, including the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.

Kevin Sheridan, President of the European Council for Building Professionals (ECBP) said: "The proposal for a directive on the recognition of professional qualifications was a golden opportunity for the EU to achieve its stated objectives of greater liberalisation of the provision of services, more automatic recognition of qualifications, increased flexibility in the procedures to provide a mechanism for a smoother mobility of construction professionals in an enlarged EU community.

"It is inequitable to exclude suitably qualified engineers and building surveyors and appropriately qualified chartered builders from the design process, ostensibly on the basis of an EU misunderstanding of the functional expertise (design) carried out by many of these professionals. In contrast, there was apparently greater familiarity with role and function of the title of architect.""