EXCLUSIVE Alan Jones: ‘I was gagged and intimidated by RIBA Board’

In a memo to all council members sent on Sunday (25 July), and seen by the AJ, Jones claims that, before he was reinstated following his suspension over an affair, the board made him agree to various ‘undertakings’ in order to silence him.

The memo stated: ‘These undertakings prevented me from asking questions, calling people out, and raising complaints. In other circles, this may well be referred to as a “gagging order”.’

The undertakings are set out below this article.

Jones added: ‘As a lone individual responding to Board with its substantial external and internal legal expertise, I felt intimidated by this ongoing behavior.’

The restrictions lasted until December 2020 but, according to Jones, the board then tried to impose them further ‘into my year as immediate past president. The RIBA strongly disputes that the undertakings constitute a ‘gagging order’ and denies attempting to silence Jones.

Jones’s memo comes just a week after his resignation as a trustee and board member in protest over CEO Alan Vallance’s new contract, which prompted calls for the RIBA to come clean about the causes of the rift between the two men.

Jones’s memo was followed by a detailed email sent yesterday (26 July) from the board’s chair, Jack Pringle, to council members, putting forward the board’s interpretation of events.

Pringle’s email told members how it had ‘navigated’ the fallout – described as the ‘PRIBA Incident’ – and the ensuing dispute between the board, former honorary secretary Kerr Robertson and Jones over how it was handled.

Shedding new light on the tangled web of complaints and the depth of the divisions within the institute, it reveals that in the past 15 months, hundreds of pages of complaints have been made, sparking six independent investigations. Two are still ongoing.

One of these investigations was conducted in response to complaints made by Robertson against the RIBA Board and individual RIBA trustees last September. The RIBA instructed Browne Jacobson LLP to find a barrister to conduct an independent review, which in June reported that none of the complaints were valid.

However, Jones’s memo questioned the independence of the report and described it as a ‘cover-up’. He claimed a briefing note sent by Browne Jacobson LLP to the barrister contained information Jones described as ‘selective’ pertaining to the investigation into how the details of his affair were leaked to the press.

The briefing note said the RIBA’s internal auditors, RSM, were not able to identify the source of the leaks and could only say that none of the information that appeared to have been leaked had been forwarded from a RIBA server.

However, Jones said it omitted RSM’s finding that the motive behind the leaks was to force his resignation.

As for Robertson, Pringle’s email claimed that, following his departure from the board in September 2020, the former honorary secretary had submitted a series of complaints, totaling about 400 pages, against the board, individual members of the board, the CEO, and members of RIBA staff.

In a statement, Robertson roundly rejected Pringle’s summary of events, in particular the circumstances that led the RIBA to submit a Serious Incident Report to the Charity Commission last April. He said: ‘Had key information not been withheld from me, I would never have agreed to submit the report to the Charity Commission – and therefore there would have been nothing to leak.
 
‘Despite all this spin, there is no escaping the fact that five or six complaints first raised beforehand have still not been investigated well over a year later.

‘I would like to know how the board explained that in their response to the Charity Commission.’

To address the ‘multitude and complexity of these complaints, a new group was set up called Council Board Advisory Group (CBAG), chaired by Jonathan Rees.

A QC acting for CBAG is investigating complaints made against Alan Vallance by both Jones and Robertson, according to Pringle’s email, with the board expecting the investigation to conclude in September 2021.

A RIBA spokesperson said: ‘The RIBA Board believes it has treated everyone properly and fairly. Thus far, it has commissioned six independent investigations to examine complaints, principally from two parties and amounting to almost 600 pages, and submitted over more than a year.

‘It is now time to conduct the final investigations, commissioned by Council and Board, into the outstanding matters, deal with the results and move on.’

Undertakings were given to RIBA Board by Alan Jones

1. He has made full and frank disclosure to the RIBA of all matters that are relevant to his compliance with his obligations to the RIBA in relation to his relationship with B.
2. He will comply with his obligations of faithfulness, loyalty, integrity, and candor to the RIBA at all times in the future.
3. In the event that he has any doubt as to whether or not he should disclose a matter to the RIBA, he will seek the advice of the Honorary Secretary and one other member of the RIBA Board (who may consult with the RIBA Director of Legal and Governance) and will act in accordance with the advice given.
4. He will use his best endeavors to restore trust and confidence in his working relationships with key individuals in the RIBA, including but not limited to his fellow Trustees, fellow Council members, and members of the Executive Team.

RIBA roles

RIBA Council and RIBA Board members (represented by dots). RIBA Council oversees the RIBA Board of Trustees