Updated 12 November 2026
The official way to check a registered architect in Kenya is to search the Board of Registration of Architects and Quantity Surveyors (BORAQS) directory, not a company letterhead, a site-board name or a social-media profile. The live Registered Architects Directory on boraqs.go.ke, checked on 12 November 2026, is published “pursuant to the Architects & Quantity Surveyors Act Cap 525 of the Laws of Kenya” and is described on that page as a list of “verified & active licensed professionals”. The same Board also publishes a Registered Quantity Surveyors Directory. The older boraqs.or.ke host redirects to boraqs.go.ke.
The directories are paginated official lists. This guide does not paste them and does not invent a current headcount. A background page still posted by the Board gives historic registration totals, but it does not state when those totals were last updated, so they should not be used as today’s count. Search the person in front of you, read the registration number and the status column, and confirm with the Board if the row is missing or incomplete.
On this page
In this guide
What BORAQS is, and what Cap 525 covers
The Board’s background page, still posted when checked on 12 November 2026, says BORAQS was established in 1934 under Cap 525 of the Laws of Kenya. Its mandate, in the Board’s words, is to regulate the professions of architecture and quantity surveying through training, registration and enhancement of ethical practice. The Board is established under Section 4 of the Act. Under Section 6(1), the Cabinet Secretary appoints the Registrar, who is charged with running the secretariat and with ensuring that a register is kept of every person who is suitably qualified to be registered as an architect or a quantity surveyor.
That is why a registered architect in Kenya should be findable on the official directory, and why a quantity surveyor should be findable on the sister list. A person can be a graduate, a company director or a familiar name on a project and still not be the person the Registrar is required to keep on the register. If you are hiring someone to sign drawings, issue a professional opinion or lead a building design, the name to look up is the practitioner’s registered name and number, not only the trading style of a firm.
The same background page records that the Board works with the National Construction Authority and the Engineers Board of Kenya to promote professionalism, standards and safety in the built environment. Those are separate registers. An NCA contractor licence, already covered in our NCA registered-contractor check, does not replace BORAQS registration, and BORAQS registration does not replace an NCA check.
How to search for a registered architect in Kenya
Open the official directory for a registered architect in Kenya on boraqs.go.ke. The table columns, on the pages checked on 12 November 2026, are a registration number, the practitioner’s name, a postal address, a town or practice location, and a status. Architect registration numbers on the pages we opened are prefixed with the letter A. Quantity-surveyor numbers on the QS directory are prefixed with the letter Q. Status values on the rows we inspected were “Active”.
Search for the exact name on the appointment letter, the drawings and the fee proposal, and for the registration number if you have been given one. Because the directories are paginated, a single page view is not the whole register. Use the site’s search or browse carefully, and try obvious spelling variants if the first attempt fails, then confirm with the Board rather than guessing. Do not rely on a downloaded or republished copy of the list, which may be out of date.
If the person you were introduced to is a quantity surveyor, search the QS directory, not only the architects’ list. The two professions share one Board and one statute, but they are listed separately. A client who needs both an architect and a quantity surveyor should check both names.
What to match on the row, and what a gap means
Match four things, not just a similar name: the registration number, the spelling of the practitioner’s name, the town or practice location, and the status. A row marked Active is official evidence that this edition of the directory lists that person as an active licensed professional, in the Board’s wording. It is not, by itself, a project approval, an occupation certificate or a finding that the fee proposal is reasonable.
Some rows on the live pages show incomplete fields, including a “Practice County: #” placeholder. Treat missing or broken fields as a reason to confirm with the Board, not as proof that the person is unregistered. Absence from a search can also mean a typographical variant, a firm name instead of the practitioner’s name, or a person who is not on the register. If you cannot find a registered architect in Kenya who has been presented as the designer of your project, write to BORAQS with the name and any number you were given before you pay a professional fee or rely on the drawings.
The Board’s background page still states that “to date” it has registered 1,556 architects and 820 quantity surveyors. That sentence is official text on a page that also refers to older institutional names and to practice notes issued up to 2009, and it does not give a date for the totals. Do not use those figures as a 2026 headcount. Use the live directory row, or a written confirmation from the Board, as the current record for the person you are checking.
Firms, complaints and other built-environment checks
Individual registration is not the same as a practising firm. The Board still publishes an application for inclusion in the register of practising firms (Form B3). This guide does not treat that form as a public search tool, and it does not invent a firm-directory address that the pages we opened did not clearly present as a searchable list. If you are contracting a firm, ask for the individual practitioner’s registration number as well as any firm registration, and confirm both with the Board.
Complaints about professional conduct sit with the Board, not only with the contractor or the county. The background page says the Ethics and Practice Committee deals with ethical issues in practice and with complaints from other professionals, the construction industry and the public. It receives complaints, investigates and recommends action to the Board. The same page says practice notes, which the Board describes as rules for the day-to-day running of the two disciplines, can be obtained from the secretariat without a fee.
A clean BORAQS row still leaves the usual project checks in place: county development permission and occupation certificates where they apply, and NCA contractor and project registration. If a lawyer is also on the file, run the separate advocate-registration check. Do not treat one official register as a substitute for the others.
Who to contact at the Board
The official contacts, repeated on the Board’s contact page and at the foot of the directories, checked on 12 November 2026, are: Board of Registration of Architects and Quantity Surveyors of Kenya (BORAQS), Transcom House Annex, Ngong Road, P.O. Box 40866-00100, Nairobi; telephone (+254) 020 2728 444, 0726 243 005 or 0780 496 588; and info@boraqs.or.ke. Go with the person’s name, the registration number if you have one, the project or firm name, and a copy of the document on which they were presented to you.
A written answer from the Board is the record to keep if the online row is unclear. The public directories answer a narrow question: is this person listed as a registered architect in Kenya, or as a registered quantity surveyor, with an active status, under Cap 525? They do not, on the pages we checked, rate the person’s work or approve a particular building.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the official list of a registered architect in Kenya?
On boraqs.go.ke, as the Registered Architects Directory, the official public list of a registered architect in Kenya, published pursuant to Cap 525. The older boraqs.or.ke address redirects to that host. Search the live pages rather than a copy saved from an earlier year.
Does the same Board also list quantity surveyors?
Yes. BORAQS publishes a separate Registered Quantity Surveyors Directory. Registration numbers on the pages we checked use a Q prefix for quantity surveyors and an A prefix for architects.
What if the name is not on the directory?
Try spelling variants and the registration number, then ask the Board at the contacts above. Do not treat a failed search as a final official finding, and do not treat a missing row as a reason to proceed on informal assurance alone.
Is an NCA licence enough?
No. The Board’s own background page presents NCA and the Engineers Board of Kenya as partner regulators, not as substitutes for BORAQS registration. Check the architect or quantity surveyor on the BORAQS directories, and check the contractor on the NCA register, as separate steps.
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