History of the profession
Masters of work
The master builders were the builders of churches and cathedrals in medieval times. They were called magister operis or magister domorum, that is, master of work or master of houses. They were always linked to other trades such as carpenters. Its organization was union and access was by co-option, through a selection or recruitment of new members by internal nomination. This closed structure in itself gave rise to the creation of Freemasonry or Freemasonry. Until the end of the Old Regime they belonged to the menestral class. In the 19th century, the masters of houses of Barcelona became independent and received privileges from Charles V, Philip II (1585) and Philip III (1599); They were governed by three consuls. Mentioned for the first time in 1415, they received different ordinations during the century (1743, 1762, 1796). Before the 2nd century, the architects of official positions were called Senior Masters of the Kingdom.
In 1787, academic training began and the title of Master of Works appeared at the Academy of San Fernando in Madrid, leaving behind the apprenticeship of guilds, the only trades that had existed since the Middle Ages. In 1855, the Luján Law eliminated the studies of master builders, since in their opinion these had been created to cover a specific need to build and the lack of architects. The master builders lacked the study of art, which monuments needed. But the title of Architect could only be obtained at the Special School of Madrid"). In 1858, classes were resumed with the General Law of Public Instruction and the School became part of the University that reestablished teaching. In 1871, the teaching of master builder was definitively extinguished, giving some possibility of recovery to the students who were in progress.
Surveyors[3]
«Here lies Guillen de Rohan, master of the church of León and surveyor of this chapel»: The quote corresponds to one of the tombs of the chapels of Santa Clara (Tordesillas) and is the first written reference that is preserved about the profession of surveyor.[4] Guillen died in the first half of the century, confirming that this technical profession is one of the oldest in our country. The function of the surveyors was to organize, supervise and execute the works in the daily technical and economic aspects, and it appears clearly defined in the second half of the century,[5] and was of great importance during the construction of the great buildings of the Renaissance.
The professional name (not to be confused with the academic qualification) began to be collected in the abundant documentation of the great works of nobles and kings of the mid-century. Its first professional meaning is that of technicians and executors of stone stereotomy. The qualification of Quantity Surveyor was awarded to senior masters upon demonstration of professional practice and technical knowledge before a tribunal made up of the best artists, who were experts in Architecture, Sculpture and Painting, a first precursor to the current "competitions." In April 1620, Francisco de Potes was selected by a Court to occupy the position of Surveyor of the royal works of the Alhambra in Granada.
Starting in 1757 (when the Royal Academy of Noble Arts of San Fernando was created), the guild model of the master builder began to be replaced by the professionalization of the architect-artist who designed the work. In this organizational structure, Surveyors were promoted to the category of senior masters or architects of the great royal works. It was on January 24, 1855 when the so-called "Luján Decree" established the title of Surveyor to replace that of master builder. In 1895 it was established that the corresponding studies would be carried out in the Schools of Arts and Crafts, but their powers were not established until 1902. The Royal Order of January 5, 1905 reflects, for the first time, the political achievement of a corporate body of the profession: the Central Society of Quantity Surveyors. In 1919, the Royal Decree of March 28 includes the obligatory intervention of the Surveyor in all works directed by architects of the State, province or municipality whose budget exceeds 15,000 pesetas. Likewise, this Royal Decree refers for the first time to the civil or criminal liability that the Quantity Surveyor may incur, derived from his actions under the orders of the architect.
The two historical milestones in which the profession's aspirations for liberal practice culminated were forged in the Decrees of 1935 (where the current configuration of the profession emerged, establishing the mandatory intervention of Quantity Surveyors in all works of architecture).
Academically, the Technical Education Law of 1957 also constituted an important milestone, by configuring the studies taught in the Schools of Quantity Surveyors, introducing the Preparatory Course plus the three-year degree, and which established the specialties of urban planning, organization of works and facilities.
Technical architects[3]
The university degree of Technical Architect appeared in Spain with this name in 1964 and the studies were integrated into the University from the General Education Law of 1970. The University Schools of Technical Architecture were established by Decree of May 10, 1972.
In 1999, a process of harmonization of the different educational systems of the EU began in Europe, known as the Bologna Process, which involved the adaptation of the Spanish university system to the European Higher Education Area. With this adoption, the university degree in technical architecture became a four-year university degree (240 ECTS).
The three historical milestones of the profession of technical architect are the Royal Decree of Powers of Technical Architects of 1971 and that of fee rates of 1979, a broader organization of the intervention of Technical Architects in the work of their profession is produced. With Law 12/86 (endorsed by Law 33/1992) the powers of Technical Architects are definitively established. The ability to design works that do not require an architectural project, the direction of the material execution of the works and the exercise of teaching are the most notable aspects of the regulatory framework in force today.
The third historical milestone is the promulgation of Law 38/99, on Building Planning, of November 5 -LOE-, which had great importance in the development of the building process and in the development of professional activity, as well as in the consolidation of the skills of Technical Architects. The standard put an end to almost a quarter of a century of frustrated attempts to achieve a common standard to regulate the building process. The Law has established for the future the collegiate project management model[7] (construction director and director of the execution of the work), made up of an architect and a Technical Architect, with a requirement for the intervention of the latter in all works whose uses correspond to buildings of an administrative, health, religious, residential, teaching and cultural nature, as well as in all buildings in the field of engineering whose construction management is carried out by the architect.
Building engineers
In most of the rest of the world, this qualification developed from master builders to what are today building engineers[8] or civil engineers.
In English, in the academic field, building engineering is associated with general training under the expressions of Architectural Technology and Construction Management (mainly in the United Kingdom and Ireland), Building Engineering (mainly in Canada and Australia), Architectural Engineering (mainly in the United States, although also in the United Kingdom). The expression Building Construction is also common.
In Latin languages, especially in Europe, its name is homogeneous, the expression used being that of building engineer, translated into each of the respective languages: in Italian, edile engineering; in French, engineering du bâtiment; and, in the different languages of Spain, building engineering in Spanish, eraikunta ingeniaritza in Basque, building engineering in Catalan or Valencian, and building engineering in Galician.
In German, building engineering is linked to the expression of civil engineering or bauingenieur, and associated with the construction of structures under the term Hochbau, and with construction management under the term Bauleiter; However, the name to designate this engineering in the German-speaking countries, both Germany and Austria, is Ingenieurin für Hochbau, which translated into Spanish would be the same as in Italian or French, 'building engineering'. Likewise, to designate its profession in English, the most common name, anywhere in the world, is Building Engineering or 'building engineering'.
There are different routes in their academic training, currently the most developed is the one that starts from a general training degree in building engineering, as in France, Italy, Australia, Canada, the United States, Malaysia or recently Spain, another route is as a specialty or discipline within the civil engineering degree, either as a specialization in the second cycle, through a master's degree in Building Engineering, or as a bachelor's degree associated with construction engineering, which covers both building and public works, or a degree associated with structural engineering.
Historically, in some countries, current degrees in this engineering have derived from training as an architect, in the case of Denmark or Finland, or as a civil engineer. Likewise, the double qualification of Architect-Building Engineer is also common, as in Italy, Spain, Japan or South Korea.
In most developed countries, and especially in reference European countries, such as Germany, France or Italy, these different paths in their academic training coexist simultaneously. In summary, we could speak of three reference figures to understand this engineering, all three closely related to each other: