RIBA believe press are to blame over low pay row

Although no formal complaint has been made by the institute over BD’s coverage of the issue in recent weeks, letters from two senior staff have emerged claiming the paper’s coverage was “misrepresentative” and “skewed the facts”.

It comes as a Facebook group set up three weeks ago to highlight the issue reached 1,000 members this week. Keith Tomlinson, the architect who resigned his membership in protest and set up the Facebook page, revealed he had received letters from Janine Chasmer, the RIBA’s head of membership services, and executive director Richard Brindley blaming BD’s coverage for the row.

He said, "The idea that the storm was cooked up by the paper was laughable and patronising. If they think that this furore has been entirely manufactured by BD then they are living on a different planet from me. That’s very far from the truth." He argued that BD's story was 'just the straw that broke the camels back' following reports weeks ago that London practice Parritt Leng were advertising jobs below the minimum wage.

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