Strengthening consumer protection, by introducing legislation for the registration of building professionals is one of the aims of the newly appointed President of the Royal Institute of Architects, Mr Arthur Hickey.

Mr Hickey, a partner with the Campbell Conroy Hickey Partnership, will take up office for a two-year period next January.

He said he would be concentrating on environmental policy, focusing particularly on the issues of planning, housing and conservation.

Mr Hickey's practice is best known for residential, healthcare and commercial projects such as the Blackrock Clinic and the local authority housing scheme in Dublin's Montpelier Hill, which won an architectural competition.

Mr Hickey is a native of Dublin and qualified as an architect in 1970.