A major lesson from the Grenfell tragedy, highlighted by Dame Judith Hackitt in her independent review, Building a Safer Future (2018), was that the competence requirements of those responsible for the safety of higher risk buildings must be agreed upon across the built environment and enforced in regulation. A strong consensus has emerged that the quality of work and culture must be improved.

Raising competence standards is a key component of this transformation.

The Launch of the Built Environment Competence Standards work programme

In response, BSI, working with the MHCLG (Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government), initiated a Built Environment Competence Standards (BECS) programme to help with the delivery of the regulatory policy that will be set out in the forthcoming Building Safety Act.

To learn more about this programme, download our brochure here.

The new national competence standards framework is designed to support the delivery of regulatory policy and the regulated roles responsible for building safety (the top-down approach), while also providing the interface to the ongoing large-scale sector-led programme of work to ‘raise the bar’ in terms of competence of the workforce generally (the bottom-up approach).

The plan is to produce four standards in total: one on competence criteria for building safety, and three on specific roles that will be invoked in the legislation. Our programme of new standards is also designed to enable a large-scale sector-led initiative to raise standards of competency across the built environment.

There are many benefits to developing these standards:

• Crucially, they will help to improve building safety. In this case, that means primarily the safety of residents, but also of the workforce, including emergency responders

• The standards will make it easier for different parts of the built environment to work together by establishing agreed core principles, terminology, and requirements on competence. This will provide a shared understanding of roles along the supply chain

• The impact goes further: the standards will provide a bridge to wider competence requirements being developed for the professional, technical and artisanal skills of those working in the built environment, raising the quality of work, the behaviour and the culture of individuals

Across the built environment, from housing, industrial, commercial, hospitals and schools, to civil engineering, infrastructure and urban spaces, our standards are designed to help you establish good practice, build resilience, and embed competence. With a BSI Knowledge subscription, professional competence is at your fingertips with instant access to over 9,000 best practice documents related to the construction industry. Request to learn more.

Core Criteria for Building Safety Competence

What does BSI Flex 8670 v3.0 do?

Well, it sets the core criteria for building safety competence - including fire safety, structural safety and public health - for all individuals working in the built environment. Its purpose is to improve safety outcomes throughout the building life cycle. In addition, this standard will support the progressive development of a more consistent approach to the use of competence frameworks across the built environment.

The final iteration of BSI Flex 8670 has been published. Users of this standard are strongly encouraged to adopt it. This includes anyone responsible for the development, maintenance or application of sector-specific competence frameworks for roles, functions, activities or tasks that are critical to and directly influence safety in and around buildings.

Later in the year, BSI will review feedback on its use. This will be used to inform the evolution of BSI Flex 8670 v3.0 into a full British Standard, BS 8670, set for publication in 2022.

The Benefits of BSI Flex 8670 for Businesses

As to why you should adopt the Flex standard into your business, there are several very good reasons.

Foremost among them is that, quite simply, it will help to improve standards of competence and therefore building safety for residents and for a building’s workforce, including emergency responders.

In addition, by establishing agreed core principles, terminology and requirements on competence, the standard will make it easier for different parts of the built environment to work together. It will provide a shared understanding of roles along the delivery supply chain. 

The standard’s use will also help raise the quality of work, the behaviour, and the culture of individuals.

The standard will also prove useful for those who want to capture pertinent information related to competency as part of the golden thread of information required for the lifespan of a building.

Adopt the BSI Flex 8670 standard into your business for FREE today.