Regulating Building Professions
Thanks to all those members who joined our latest Building Safety call last week where the Building Professions Team from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) presented its overarching strategy for the regulation of built environment professions, as part of the Government’s vision for a new building system.
- It was recognised that the current regulatory framework is complex and fragmented, having evolved over time with piecemeal reforms, and the Grenfell Tower Inquiry made detailed recommendations for reforming a number of professions, including architects, building control, fire engineers, principal contractors, and principal designers.
- The Government has confirmed that it will go further, and the long‐term strategy for regulatory and non‐regulatory reform will take a holistic view of competence, culture and accountability across the sector. The aim is to deliver a system where buildings are safe and high‐performing, companies and individuals are enabled to thrive, and the system is trusted.
- The strategy will be delivered by the Single Construction Regulator, which will also have a new central oversight function to strengthen regulatory enforcement.
MHCLG is committed to working with industry to improve what is already in place, rather than recreating the system from scratch, and it will be publishing a call for evidence this spring, seeking views on potential reforms, including whether more professions should be subject to mandatory registration and licensing requirements.
Common Assessment Standard
With over 22,500 suppliers now certified to the Common Assessment Standard, developed by Build UK, there is a growing number of organisations across the public and private sectors using it to demonstrate that members of their supply chains have the organisational capability to fulfil their duties under the Building Safety Act.
The Common Assessment Standard has two levels of certification – desktop and site‐based – and companies should apply for the appropriate level depending on their trade, size and the requirements of their clients. Once certified by a Recognised Assessment Body, a company does not need to obtain certification again from any others. Instead, they can agree to share their data at no cost with the other Recognised Assessment Bodies so it is visible to more Contractors and Clients. All the organisations listed on the Build UK website accept the Common Assessment Standard from any Recognised Assessment Body even if they have a preferred one for managing their supply chain information.
So don’t duplicate: giving permission to share your data is quick and simple and will help to save time, reduce costs and win work.
NHP Podcast
Emma Whigham (Alliance Director) and Richard Lennard (Chief Operating Officer) from the New Hospital Programme (NHP) appeared on The Infrastructure Podcast to discuss how the £37 billion Hospital 2.0 Alliance framework will transform the delivery of healthcare infrastructure, with the 12‐year pipeline giving the supply chain the confidence to invest in skills and modern methods of construction.