If an architect delegates defective design to a sub-contractor, can this allow the architect to escape liability?

It is reasonable to assume that the answer to this question is ‘no’, but the specific terms under which an architect is contracted can affect this issue. It is possible that It is possible that an architect can have exclusions of liability built into a contract in certain circumstances, but these still have to satisfy the test of reasonableness implied by the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977.