Since the early discussions started over competency for the Building Safety Bill, the Joint Competency Initiative for the Envelope Sector was formed comprising the technical and procurement leads of BAM, ISG, Kier, Laing O’Rourke, Lendlease, Mace, Morgan Sindall, Multiplex, Sir Robert McAlpine, John Sisk, Skanska and Wates Group with the aim of understanding, reflecting and setting out a vision for proportionate and practical requirements relating to both organisational and individual competence of those working in the glazing, cladding and roofing sectors.
This vision was set out in the Joint Competence Initiative Draft White Paper ‘Achieving Competence in the Building Envelope Sector’ which also provided suggestions of academic and vocational qualifications complimented with continual professional development which organisations and individuals may use to demonstrate their own competence level relevant to their level of decision making and function within an organisation. Equally important for us all to understand is when to recognise where our own ability to make competent decisions should cease and when to escalate them to the relevant person or organisation more suitably qualified to make them.
The JCI for the Envelope Sector then consulted with Principal Contractors and Developers to adopt the White Paper as the preferred measure of subcontractor competence as part of the supply chain process. In order to maintain the currency of these measures, the volunteers and associations of the JCI will continue to interact with Government bodies and other stakeholders to monitor changes in laws and regulations surrounding the issue of competence in the Built Environment and lobby them to ensure those laws and regulations are proportionate and applied in a practicable manner.
Several working groups were constituted to properly structure the JCI and address the industry requests (audits, communications, standards, governance, rules, training, etc.).
A number of SFE members are actively involved in these working groups on a fully voluntary basis. Together with other senior façade professionals of the “Training” working group, Asgar Chouglay, Camille Destres, Olivier Lageyre and Simone Starnini have worked for the last few months at the development of a base competency assessment together with IAST (Institute for Architectural Science and Technology) that will allow those taking it to be able to prove their previous learning, thus helping those in estimating, design, procurement and site management roles to more easily prove their Knowledge as part of their SKEB. The above test is meant to become one of the tools to assess basic façade competence.
The Engineering Council has also published an addendum to their existing competency assessment to cover Façade Engineering, which can be accessed here: https://www.engc.org.uk/standards-guidance/standards/uk-spec/uk-spec-hrb/