Building Safety Regulator ups collaboration with industry voices to improve competence

You could make a very good argument that ‘competence’ was the most important word of 2024, certainly for architects and the construction industry.

In September, Phase 2 of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry concluded that there were failings across the whole built environment, allocating responsibility for the 2017 tragedy to various sectors, particularly the construction industry and the role and responsibility of architects.

The key to making sure tragedies like Grenfell don’t happen again is for competence to be at the top of everyone’s list – knowing what it looks like, how to become (more) competent in your area and how to demonstrate competence to clients and others where needed.  As important is to acknowledge limitations of competence.

In recent years, we’ve seen sweeping changes to regulatory regimes – including the introduction of the Building Safety Act 2022 – but the drive to define and promote competence in the profession is now being ramped up.

Why? In her report, Dame Judith Hackitt said that the construction industry’s approach to competence was, “fragmented, encompassing a range of disciplines and different competence frameworks even within one discipline and without reference to other interacting disciplines”.

To help define and promote competence and develop these frameworks is the Industry Competence Steering Group (ICSG). Specifically for architects, the ICSG is encouraging them to become involved to help shape the regulatory landscape they work in.

What is the ICSG and how is it changing?

The Industry Competence Steering Group (ICSG) - formally known as the Competence Steering Group - was originally set up in response to the Grenfell Tower Fire and subsequent Hackitt Review. The ICSG has now become a formal working group of the Industry Competence Committee (ICC), a statutory committee under the Building Safety Regulator (BSR).

This month the ICSG announced a comprehensive restructure to enhance competence and safety standards across the built environment.

This restructure includes a formal transition to become the industry-based working group of the statutory ICC housed within the new Building Safety Regulator.

Moreover, the new alliance is set to become the source of future competence frameworks and guidance - including for architects its Sector Led Group for Consultant Designers.

Gill Hancock, Head of Technical Content at the Association for Project Management and ICSG Co-Chair, says each of the Sector Led Groups will aim to produce a competence framework or a set of core criteria, along with guidance and an implementation plan. Guidance could cover how different roles and duty holders should work together, for instance, or case studies and examples of good practice.

While the Sector Led Group for Consultant Designers  will focus specifically on  competences for consultant designers, and Principal Designer duty holders, the ICSG will have end-to-end coverage of the construction and built environment process, from products to occupation and demolition and disposal.

There are lots of opportunities for architects to get involved, say Gill and Co-Chair, Hanna Clarke (Digital and Policy Maker, Construction Products Association). Over 60 professional and trade bodies and 1,500 individuals across the built environment are already involved.

Architects who are interested in helping to shape competence frameworks and guidance for their own sectors of interest can contact the relevant sector group lead direct.

What new standards are coming to help with competence?

The ICSG closely collaborates with the BSI and its committee CPB/1 – Competence in the Built Environment - and will be contributing to many of the standards that are in development. It also has a strong relationship with the Construction Leadership Council (CLC), with the CLC contributing to the work on competence and together ensuring that industry initiatives on Building Safety align.

So what has the Steering Group got in the pipeline for 2025?

The industry already has BS 8670-1:2024 – Core criteria for building safety, published earlier this year, which is the overarching framework for the development of sector-specific competence frameworks for all roles, functions and activities that are critical to and directly influence building safety.

The group is also working on BS 8670-2, which will focus on competence in relation to the specification of construction products. This will aim to set levels of competence needed at key decision points in the construction process, says Hanna, who is leading this development group. As the Grenfell inquiry revealed so clearly, members of the supply team need to know when they have reached the limit of their own competence in relation to safety-critical building components, and when they need to defer to specialist expertise.

Details of the various programmes of work over the next two years are due to be published in Spring next year, say co-chairs Hanna Clarke.

The ICSG does not have an online home as yet but is working with the BSI to create a communications hub that will become the central depository of all of the ICSG’s work for the industry to access.

Thanks to Hanna Clarke, Digital and Policy Manager, CPA; Gill Hancock, Head of Technical Content, APM.

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