Leading from the front to improve competence

Will this be a winter of discontent or do we have reasons to be optimistic that the built environment sector will finally address the ‘new’ C word?

Competence is on everybody’s lips these days, as if this word was signalling something new. As professionals we should always be competent at what we do and know our limits. It should not come as a surprise that the concept of being competent comes in all shapes and sizes, depending on one’s viewpoint, background, education, training, CPD and, dare I say, membership of a professional body.

In this edition of Project Safety Journal, we share our thoughts on competence, describing the state of play as we find it and how we seek to support the required change. We also explain the different post-Grenfell response in Scotland in an article on the proposed compliance plan approach (CPA) – an alternative take on how to ensure that design and construction activities are compliant and buildings can be safely occupied.

While APS is focused on what is happening in all four nations, the pace of activity has been fundamentally different in each, with England paving the way by implementing its legislation, including significant ‘new’ regulations on competence added to the building regulations.

APS is engaged in much of the activity, leading from the front or participating in leadership groups. In England, APS is actively involved with CONIAC, the Industry Competence Committee, the Industry Competence Steering Group, CIC, the Building Safety Alliance – and our engagement with government has stepped up significantly. We have initiated, and are chairing, the Industry Task and Finish Group on Organisational Management of Competence. 

In Wales, APS is keeping track of legislation as it hopefully draws to a conclusion in the near future, and in Scotland we are liaising with the Building Standards Division and the Working Groups around the CPA. We are beginning to pick up on progress on Northern Ireland.

“To what end?” might be the question on APS members’ lips. Our objective is twofold – firstly, to influence and represent our members; secondly, to track progress such that we can support our members and registrants (on APS competence registers) in the best possible manner for when the competence piece for individuals, and its management by organisations, finally reaches maturity across the UK.

One way of supporting our members is through the launch of the Principal Designer Building Regulations Register and competence scheme based around PAS 8671. Principal designers (building regulations England) must be competent for the function, and that competence should be assured. Our scheme helps our registrants do just that – assure their competence on an ongoing basis.

Another way that APS is supporting members to maintain their competence is through the launch of the APS Academy. The academy is designed to arm CDM practitioner members (and others) with knowledge of subjects that may have been off their radar, and will eventually provide an opportunity for members to submit evidence of putting this newfound knowledge into practice.

All in all, APS sincerely hopes that significant progress can be achieved before the 10th anniversary of Grenfell. After all, we still have to see the result of the CDM 2015 Post Implementation Review by HSE, the outcome of the move of the Building Safety Regulator to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) in England – and that’s before a Building Safety Act review in 2027. 

In Scotland, guidance on the CPA will be issued this year and it will ask for industry to embrace the compliance plan manager (CPM) role two years or so before legislation confirms the CPM as a statutory dutyholder. A mechanism for delivering a CPM competence scheme has not yet been devised. We hope Wales will be more straightforward, and Ireland, we understand, may follow a hybrid model. Watch this space.

Andrew Leslie is CEO of the Association for Project Safety.