AFI Christmas opening
Our office is closed from 5pm on Friday 20th December, and will reopen on Thursday 2nd January 2025
Mental Health Focus
CIOB mental health survey
Following a report released in 2020 which highlighted that 97% of construction workers had experienced high levels of stress, CIOB are surveying the sector again as part of their ongoing mission to address mental health problems within the industry. The survey is open until 31 January 2025 and can be accessed here: www.ciob.me/mentalhealth.
Perennial’s helpline will close at 4.30pm on Friday 20 December and reopen at 9am on Friday 3 January 2025
If you need help with your mental or physical wellbeing during this time you can call the @PerennialGRBS 24/7 support service on 0808 196 2016, provided in partnership with Spectrum Life (just mention Perennial). Or you can download their free Health & Wellbeing app here: https://perennial.org.uk/ways-we-help/your-health/health-wellbeing-app/utm_source=partner&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=christmas_helpline
If you need to talk to someone you can also call @Samaritans free of charge on 116123. They’re available
24 hours a day, 365 days a week: https://www.samaritans.org
Or text “SHOUT” to 85258 to contact the Shout Crisis Text Line www.giveusashout.org
Fleet Safety Focus
This month the subject is drink and drugs – read the full article and access resources here
Government’s Plan for Change
The Prime Minister has published a ‘Plan for Change’ setting out how the Government will deliver on its five national missions ‐ kickstart economic growth, build an NHS fit for the future, safer streets, break down the barriers to opportunity, and make Britain a clean energy superpower ‐ with milestones to track progress by the end of this Parliament. Designed to ‘galvanise efforts across Government’, the milestones include:
- Fast‐tracking planning decisions on at least 150 major economic infrastructure projects
- Building 1.5 million homes and reforming the planning system, including publishing a new National Planning Policy Framework by the end of 2024 and updating all relevant National Policy Statements by summer 2025
- Publishing 10‐year strategies for housing and infrastructure in spring 2025 with clear project pipelines to provide certainty for investors and supply chains.
The Government has confirmed that the Spending Review next spring will prioritise the milestones and “where programmes do not represent value for money or deliver on their outcomes, [it] will take the necessary decisions to find savings”. Building on the Plan for Change, the Government has also strengthened decision‐making powers for planners to speed up the planning approval process and is developing its proposals for building on the ‘grey belt’.
Building Safety Latest
Following a request from Build UK, the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) is expected to issue a statement confirming that Gateway Two applications must demonstrate how they will meet the functional requirements of Building Regulations. Confusion has arisen following publication of BS 9991:2024, which does not reference the transitional arrangements for amendments to Approved Document B, including second staircases and evacuation lifts.
The BSR has also clarified the position on partial completion certificates, which allow an applicant to occupy part of a building before all work has been completed. When making an application, the partial completion strategy must set out how the occupied part of the building will comply with Building Regulations whilst work continues, and the BSR has confirmed that each partial completion application will be assessed against all the relevant functional requirements A ‐ T. Any partial completion application will be expected to cover a significant element of the building and those based on a ‘single residential unit’ are likely to be rejected on the basis they contain insufficient information to demonstrate compliance with all relevant requirements.
RIBA has published a Principal Designer Practice Note to provide guidance for its members undertaking the role of Principal Designer under the Building Safety Act. It covers contracts, demonstrating competence, helping clients to understand their duties, and when a Principal Contractor should be appointed to undertake Principal Designer duties.
The Industry Competence Steering Group, which is made up of a number of sector‐led groups that produce competence frameworks, guidance and implementation programmes to enable culture change in relation to competence in construction, has been restructured as a formal working group of the Industry Competence Committee under the BSR.
National Apprenticeship Week 2025
National Apprenticeship Week (NAW) 2025 will run from Monday 10 ‐ Sunday 16 February to showcase the benefits of apprenticeships. Taking place in the run up to Open Doors Week, NAW 2025 will have the theme ‘Skills for Life’ focussing on how apprenticeships can help employers develop a workforce with future‐ready skills, whilst setting up individuals for a rewarding career. All members are encouraged to start thinking about how they can celebrate their apprentices and highlight the value of apprenticeships in construction, and there are lots of ideas in the NAW 2025 Toolkit.
For any members in‐scope to CITB who are looking for support with apprenticeships, CITB’s New Entrant Support Team is available to help with finding, recruiting and retaining apprentices, and further information can be found in its Employer Support Welcome Pack.
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