A 22-year-old charity has apologised to its founder and former chair after an “11-month dispute” over his departure announcement last year.
In November 2022, the International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture and Urbanism (INTBAU) announced the departure from its board of Robert Adam, who established the charity in 2001 and chaired it for 21 years.
Last week, the trustees and directors of INTBAU admitted that “there was a misunderstanding” and that Adam “did not intend to tender his resignation”.
Adam told Civil Society he had felt “kicked out” of INTBAU and remained unclear about why the charity previously claimed he had resigned when he had not.
‘We regret any distress caused to Adam’
INTBAU’s statement, shared by Adam on his Instagram page, says that he had “an extensive and full and frank exchange of correspondence” with the trustees and directors of the charity.
“The undersigned trustees sincerely regret any distress this matter may have caused Professor Adam and that any subsequent matters may have reflected negatively on his professional and personal reputation,” the statement reads.
“The undersigned trustees and directors of the UK charity INTBAU Ltd all hold Professor Adam in the highest esteem and celebrate his 21 years of service as founder and Chair of INTBAU Ltd.
“Professor Adam has now elected to stand down from the board and remains a corresponding advisor to INTBAU Ltd.”
‘Unnecessary business’
Adam told Civil Society that he had intended “to resign early on this year” and that the trustees knew this, but still decided to dismiss him in October 2022.
“Essentially, as the statement said, they claimed that I’d resigned. I told them I hadn’t at the very beginning, but they persisted in claiming that I’d resigned, and, therefore, removed me from the charity,” he said.
“So, we entered into a dispute, basically, and that dispute lasted for, ridiculously, 11 months. In the meantime, the governing committee, which is an international committee, put me permanently on their committee because they didn’t want to see me go. So, it’s an extraordinary business, and quite unnecessary.”
He said that being “kicked out” of a charity he was involved in “is a slight on your reputation, but it’s also deeply upsetting”.
“This was a sad and unnecessary affair, and personally quite upsetting as I was one of the founders of the charity, and have supported it from virtually nothing to a very successful charity.
“But I’m glad it’s all over, and I can work on promoting the objects of the charity.”
‘There comes a moment when you need to step back’
Asked why he had intended to leave the charity, he said: “I started the charity 22 years ago, and there comes a moment when you need to step back. And my intention was that I would remain a member of the UK charity, but not the chairman.
“But in fact, I’ve now been put on to the governing international committee, and they’ve agreed that I act as a corresponding advisor. It seems to me satisfactory that I leave that committee.
“In fairness, when you’ve had an 11-month dispute with somebody with a group of people, it's quite difficult to work close [with them].”
He added: “The irony of all of this is I’ve never been given a reason for this. It can’t be succession because I had already agreed to stand down. So, no one has ever said: ‘We wanted to do this and we had to do this.’ So, I still don’t know why.”
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