The Royal Institute of British Architects has paid £150,000 to its former president Alan Jones, settling a long-running legal dispute over its handling of his personal information.
The £150,000 payment was listed in a draft of the institute's annual financial report, seen by the British magazine Architect's Journal (AJ), which broke the news yesterday.
In the draft, the payment is listed as a "settlement agreement" to an "ex-officio trustee". The AJ ascertained that this was Jones.
Payment followed long-term legal dispute
The payment concluded a long-term legal dispute between Jones and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), which was settled in 2025. It was sparked by the organisation's handling of personal information and allegations about Jones, which were leaked to the press in 2020.
RIBA has since stated that the organisation is "bound by its confidentiality obligations, which prevent further comment", AJ reported. However, it remains uncontested that the money was sent to Jones.
Jones is a Northern Ireland-based architect and academic who became RIBA president in September 2019.
In early 2020, RIBA submitted a "serious incident report" involving Jones to the organisation's regulator, the Charity Commission, and the architect temporarily stepped down from his role as president. Details of this report were subsequently leaked to the media.
Jones returned to his role in June 2020 following an independent investigation by law firm Browne Jacobson, which cleared him to return to office.
Dispute caused by "unauthorised" disclosure of information
When the dispute was settled in 2025, RIBA said it regretted the "unauthorised" divulgence of information about its president.
"RIBA has reached a confidential settlement with the past president of RIBA, professor Alan Jones, in respect of his claim that information relating to him was not adequately protected and controlled by RIBA," RIBA chair Jack Pringle said at the time.
"RIBA regrets the fact that unauthorised leaks occurred and the harm that this caused professor Jones and his family."
Jones was succeeded as president of RIBA by Simon Allford in 2021. Allford was followed by Muyiwa Oki, and later today's president Chris Williamson.
Williamson, who is co-founder of Weston Williamson + Partners, recently caused a stir when giving up his architect title to draw attention to the "absurdity of the current regulatory framework" of ARB.