The Association of Building Engineers (ABE) was founded as the Incorporated Association of Architects and Surveyors (IAAS) in 1925. It was among the bodies which opposed a draft bill which was presented to Parliament in 1927 by the Royal Institute of British Architects' (RIBA) Registration Committee in the course of events which resulted in the passing of the Architects (Registration) Act 1931.
Under the 1931 Act, the Architects' Registration Council of the United Kingdom (ARCUK) was established with the duty of setting up, maintaining and publishing the Register of Architects. The IAAS was among the bodies named, together with the RIBA, in the First Schedule of the Act as being entitled to appoint one member in respect of every five hundred of their own members.
The Register of Architects is now maintained and published under the Architects Act 1997, which reconstituted ARCUK. In consequence, the IAAS was no longer an appointing body, nor any of the other bodies named in the 1931 Act, which has been repealed.
The name of the IAAS was changed in 1993 to the Association of Building Engineers (ABE).[1] It now states that it provides the prime qualifications of Building Engineer, and that this is a title "that exactly reflects the professional expertise of members and one that is readily understood in the European Union and beyond".