The second quarterly report of the Competence Steering Group for Building a Safer Future, which is tasked with implementing the recommendations of the Hackitt Review concerning competence, has just been published. More than one hundred organisations across the built environment, construction, fire and building owner/manager sectors are contributing to the activity of twelve working groups.
The Competence Steering Group is due to complete its work by May 2019, at which time it is envisaged that an overarching competence body will have been set up – in accordance with the Hackitt recommendation – to oversee a range of enhanced competences for all those working on higher risk residential buildings. This will include new competences for those managing the buildings in occupation. A third quarterly report on progress will be made in January 2019.
Graham Watts OBE, chair of the Steering Group, said: ‘An immense amount of activity has gone into the industry’s leadership of this work to date and much progress is being made. This is a marathon, not a sprint, but I am confident that we will be able to respond positively to each of Dame Judith Hackitt’s recommendations on competence by her deadline date.’
Anthony Taylor, chair of WG8 looking at setting competences for Building Safety Coordinators for higher risk residential buildings said: ‘We have been very fortunate ingaining the support, and hard work, of representatives from some 22 organisations from across the real estate sector to tackle the issues tasked to this Group. These, subject matter experts, with further valuable input from invited speakers, have all given their (considerable) time to a complex, but very important component of Dame Judith’s vision. We look forward to presenting our preliminary recommendations soon.’
