The Competence Steering Group (CSG) has released its final report called “Setting the Bar” with the aim of a competency based framework across the construction industry. This comes about following the publication of the interim report in 2019. More about the interim report can be found in my colleague’s Caroline Foster blog – “Raising the Bar” interim report by Competence Steering Group".
The new proposal, which is a direct result of the Grenfell Tower fire, comes with a detailed list of competence standards and frameworks which lay out the skills, knowledge and experience to carry out specific roles, subject to a continuous scrutiny from accredited third parties. The competence driven system is composed of 4 main tenets:
1. a new competence committee sitting within the Building Safety Regulator – in line with the Building Safety Bill proposal;
2. a national suite of competence standards which encompasses:
a) A pervasive British Standard applicable to a variety of disciplines including the Principal Designer, Principle Contractor as well as the Building Safety Manager who is introduced in the Building Safety Bill;
b) Publicly Available Specification (PAS) standards for the Principal Designer and Principal Contractor as well as for the Building Safety Manger; and
c) Sectoral standards that will be applicable to individual disciplines, roles or activities;
3. arrangements for independent assessment and reassessment against the competence standards;and
4. a mechanism to ensure that those assessing and certifying against the standards have appropriate levels of oversight.
More on the Building Safety Bill can be found in my colleagues’ Alison Garret and Jastinder Samra blog – "Government Issues Building Safety Bill for Higher Risk Buildings".
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