Discussing the new Competence Framework for project managers in the built environment webinar Thursday 29 February 2024 Speakers: Gill Hancock, Head of Qualifications and Standards Development, Association for Project Management Rosalind Thorpe, Director of Education and Standards, CIOB Steven Thompson BSc MBA FRICS, Senior Specialist, Construction, Knowledge & Professional Development, RICS The link to the write up page and resources of this webinar: https://www.apm.org.uk/news/discussing-the-new-competence-framework-for-project-managers-in-the-built-environment-webinar/ Content description: A new competence framework that applies to the management of projects in the built environment has been launched, following changes in the recently introduced Building Safety Act. Introduced in response to learnings from the Grenfell Tower tragedy, this new framework will have significant implications for project professionals working in the built environment. APM is proud to have worked alongside RICS and CIOB in shaping these changes, to ensure project professionals have a clear understanding of how safer buildings can be created. This webinar explored what these changes mean for project professionals and what they need to do next.

1. Background to the Building Safety Act
and changes to competence
requirements
February 2024

2. Building Safety Act background
Grenfell Tower
A fire broke out at Grenfell Tower on 14th
June 2017. Tragically 72 people lost their
lives and a further 70 were injured.
© 2024 Association for Project Management 2
Following the fire, the Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire
Safety was commissioned
The output from the review underlined the need for significant change in the
way buildings are regulated
Their recommendations formed the framework for the Building Safety Act,
which received Royal Assent on 28th April 2022.

3. What is the Building Safety Act?
The Building Safety Act
Is a very significant piece of legislation that
changes how buildings are constructed and
maintained in England. It affects all levels of
industry and looks to change the culture to
make people and organisations more
accountable, focussing on the functional
requirements of the building and building
safety, rather than cost and time
© 2024 Association for Project Management 3
• Applies to ALL buildings and includes additional requirements for High
Risk Buildings
• A High risk building is defined as at least 18 metres in height or at least 7
storeys and contains at least 2 residential units or is a hospital or care
home.
• The Act
• Creates the Building Safety Regulator, National regulator for construction products,
new homes ombudsman
• Defines new roles– Duty holders, Accountable persons/Principle Accountable
persons,
• Creates new systems/regulations- Building control, competence, gateways, golden
thread, mandatory and voluntary occurrence reporting
• Changes some existing legislation

4. Building Safety Regulator
The role of the Building Safety Regulator is
to :
Oversee the safety and performance of all
buildings, as well as having a special focus
on high risk buildings. It will promote
competence and organisational capability
within the sector and lead the enforcement
of the new regulatory framework
© 2024 Association for Project Management 4
• The Regulator has powers of enforcement under the Act and the ability to
prosecute offences committed under the Act, which carry a term of
imprisonment of up to two years, a fine, or both.
• Supported by a number of Committees set up under the Building Safety
Act, including the Industry Competence Committee
• Role of the Industry Competence Committee is to monitor industry
competence and facilitate its improvement, publish guidance on industry
competence and advice to the Building Safety Regulator and industry on
competence.

5. Competence
One of the areas highlighted in the Building
a Safer Future final report was that
competence across industry was patchy
and competence levels needed to be raised
and assured
© 2024 Association for Project Management 5
• Led to a focus on competence within the Building Safety Act
• It is a legal requirement for ALL individuals carrying out design, construction and
refurbishment work to be competent in their roles and not carry out work they are not
competent to do
• There is a legal requirement on anyone who appoints an individual or organisation to
ensure they are competent in their role
• .Organisations have a legal duty to ensure those employed by them are competent or
are supervised by someone who is competent

6. Competence Steering Group
Competence Steering Group
As part of the Industry Response to Grenfell,
the Competence Steering Group was
established to develop and improve
competence across the built environment
industry.
This was set up under CIC, the group has now
been renamed to the Industry Competence
Steering Group (ICSG) and is a standing
working group of the Industry Competence
Committee, a statutory committee of the
Building Safety Regulator
© 2024 Association for Project Management 6
• To support this work, 12 working groups were set up to develop
competence in the relevant professions
• WG1 – engineers
• WG2 – installers
• WG3 – Fire engineers
• WG4 – Fire risk assessors
• WG5 – Fire Safety enforcement officers
• WG6 – Building standards
• WG7 – Building designers
• WG8 – Building safety managers
• WG9 – Site supervisors
• WG10 – Project managers
• WG11 – Procurement professionals
• WG12 Construction Products

7. How do project managers demonstrate their competence?
© 2024 Association for Project Management 7
For those working on HRBs and complex projects
Dates Evidence for competence
October 2023-
September
2025
• competence can be demonstrated to the regulator via achieving
Chartered status with APM, RICS (PM pathway) or CIOB and
demonstrating relevant experience in the built environment.
September
2025 –
September
2027
• competence can be demonstrated to the regulator via achieving
certification against the competence framework for project managers in
the built environment in England via APM, CIOB or RICS or achieving
Chartered status with APM, RICS (PM pathway) or CIOB and
demonstrating relevant experience in the built environment
From
September
2027
• competence can be demonstrated to the regulator via achieving
certification against the framework for competence of project managers
in the built environment in England via APM, CIOB or RICS
Relevant experience is defined as: To ensure the project manager is competent in managing the scope, complexity and risk profile specific to HRBs, the project manager needs to demonstrate at
least 12 months experience of managing project(s) in an HRB environment; this experience could be supervised .
To ensure the project manager is competent in managing the scope, complexity and risk profile specific to complex projects, the project manager needs to demonstrate at least 12 months
experience of managing project(s) in a complex project environment; this experience could be supervised .