As you will be aware, the introduction of the Building Safety Act is being heralded as the most important and significant change to health and safety legislation relating to the construction industry in the past 40 years, and as such 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 complemented 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 last 12 months have seen three draft releases of the Joint Competence Initiative White Paper ‘Achieving Competence in the Building Envelope Sector’ and after discussions with the Building Safety Regulator all final comments and amendments have been incorporated, and we are pleased to announce that the First Edition of the White Paper is now published.
Now that the White Paper ‘Achieving Competence in the Building Envelope Sector’ has been published, it is intended that the JCI for the Envelope Sector will consult 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.
The past few months has seen the role of the JCI become more defined an ‘association of associations’. JCI will continue to set out a vision for giving guidance on how organisations and individuals might comply with the requirements of the Building Safety Act.
In addition, a schedule of appropriate training courses will be published in a clear and concise manner for the entire sector to access.
We would invite those of you who are active on LinkedIn to follow our page The Joint Competence Initiative for The Building Envelopes Sector (JCI) for updates.
Finally, we look forward to increasing our engagement with the Envelope Sector in the coming months and invite you all to get involved where you can to help bring about this important paradigm shift in the Construction Industry. Whilst we understand that this large cultural shift may present its challenges, we believe the direction that the JCI is adopting will actually improve the buildings we construct and the safety of their occupants and those around them.