Kati Tamtik, director general of the Land and Spatial Development Board, confirmed that the competition received six applications. However, since the state architect position is new and carries significant responsibility, the agency had hoped to attract more candidates.

"Two highly qualified candidates made it to the final round of the competition, but because this is such an important and broad position that will lay the foundation for the role of state architect in Estonia, we are moving forward with a targeted search to expand the candidate pool," Tamtik said.

"Our goal is to ensure that all potential strong candidates are included in the competition for state architect, and that we find the best possible future state architect from among them," she added.

Through a targeted search, the agency aims to find candidates with top-level architectural and spatial planning management knowledge.

"We are looking for a visionary and a leader for the role of state architect — someone who can help draw up Estonia's spatial development strategy as well as successfully implement it, while also bringing quality spatial design to the everyday spatial planning level," the director general explained.

The state architect will lead the Land and Spatial Development Board's Strategic Spatial Planning Department and will be tasked with forming their own spatial design team.

A committee will be formed to assess suitable candidates, consisting of representatives from the Land and Spatial Development Board, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications (MKM), the Ministry of Climate as well as the architecture and planning sector.

Long-awaited new position

The Estonian Association of Architects (EAL) has discussed the necessity of establishing the institution of state architect for decades.

Architect Margit Mutso has previously stated that the state architect should be a strategist and guide, who brings together spatial policies that have been scattered across various ministries and seeks solutions to spatial issues. Decisions made by the state architect should also ensure that taxpayers' money is used wisely.

The Land and Spatial Development Board, which began operations this year, was established on the basis of the Land Board and incorporated the area of land improvement from the Agriculture and Food Board (PTA), e-construction from the Ministry of Climate and applied spatial planning tasks from the Ministry of Rural Affairs and Agriculture.

The agency operates under the MKM.

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