Another major piece of employment legislation came into force this week, although aspect of the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations are likely to generate more deliberate resistance than the new fire safety regime.

Key points of the new regulations are that employers should not permit age discrimination in areas of recruitment, promotion and training, should not set or maintain any unjustified retirement age policy for those under 65. The age limit for unfair dismissal claims and redundancy rights has also been removed.

New rights for employees include the opportunity to request to work beyond retirement age (a request the employer is bound to consider), and at least six months notice to be given prior to any planned retirement date.

In a profession where practitioners under 40 are still regarded as ‘young’ and some at 65 are just getting into their stride, the employment concerns are not typical of UK businesses as a whole; other sectors are more likely than architecture to challenge the new regulations - as is already happening in the courts. The new age of anti-ageism has clearly arrived, however.