Why competence is now the foundation of compliance

Competence is no longer an optional extra but the foundation of compliance, Jon Vanstone, chair of the Industry Competence Committee at the Building Safety Regulator, told GIRI members in May as he urged members to treat competence as “performance not paperwork”.

Jon explained that the Industry Competence Committee is a statutory body supporting the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), established under section 10 the Building Safety Act. “As far as we are concerned, competence is defined as skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours. It must be contextual, so it must be suited to the task; it must be continuous, so it must be regularly reviewed and maintained; and it must be demonstrable, which means you must be able to prove it. This applies to individuals and organisations. It is not enough to be compliant in theory. You need systems in place to ensure compliance in practice.”

He explained that the ICC exist to advise the BSR and industry on competence; support the sector in improving competence across all roles; monitor sector readiness and risks; and provide guidance to the industry and the public. “The ICC is not a regulator. We are a focal point for competence strategy, and our work applies to any person or organisation involved in designing, construction, managing or maintaining buildings of all types.”

The ICC delivers its work through four key working groups: 

• Setting Expectations, which defines what good looks like for individuals, organisations and sectoral areas; 
• Building Control, which was set up to support the transition of building control professionals to the new regime; 
• Communications, which ensures that competence messages are clear, accessible, and consistent; and 
• the Industry Competence Steering Group (ICSG).

“Originally, the ICSG was called the Competence Steering Group and was set up after Dame Judith Hackitt’s review. It has now been subsumed into the ICC and its purpose is to develop specific competence frameworks. So far it has produced 35 frameworks, with 59 in the final stages and 100 scoped out for delivery next year. The ICSG also produces practical tools that can be adopted now by clients, contractors and schemes. The aim is to move to embedding these frameworks and seeing what needs to be done to ensure adoption.”

Jon explained that the key concerns of the ICC currently include SME disengagement. “Tier one contractors and major developers are engaging with us all the time, but our penetration into the SME market is very low. Many smaller firms are unaware, under-resourced or unsure where to begin. Competence won’t be embedded if it only reaches the top of the supply chain. In response, we are trying to simplify our guidance, and we are working with federations to improve access and messaging, but this remains a significant challenge.”

On the building control front, Jon said that there is a lack of registered building inspectors, which could contribute to delays or inconsistent oversight. To tackle this, the British Standards Institute (BSI) is working on transitional routes, training pipelines and systems adjustments. 

Another risk is confusion in the industry around competence. “There are too many voices and not enough clarity,” said Jon. “The sheer volume of standards, frameworks and initiatives is creating confusion. Organisations don’t know what to prioritise and often defer action altogether. ICC’s role, therefore, is to consolidate the line and lead, and our forthcoming guidance is our starting point.”

He added that another issue is the resistance to change within the sector, particularly to the culture shift the ICC is trying to implement. “Commercial models still reward low cost over capability, competence is often seen as a cost not an asset, and compliance is often the bare minimum. Clients tend to defer to their supply chain and treat competence as someone else’s problem, and without leadership from the client and principal contractors, culture change will stall. The ICC is working with procurement teams, frameworks and insurers to reposition competence as a performance factor.”

Finally, he touched on digital adoption and the need for records, tracking and evidence systems to maintain the ‘golden thread’. Arguing that without digital adoption, competence can’t be easily verified or maintained, he acknowledged that most organisations are not anywhere near the level of digital readiness required. “Our response is a national competence hub, developed with the BSI. Here we will put all our supporting frameworks, implementation and tracking information. We hope this will be live in June.” 

However, he pointed out that competence is not just a regulatory issue. “It is a quality and error-reduction strategy. Most errors in construction stem not from malice but from poor communication, role confusion, and decisions made outside the boundaries of people’s competence. By ensuring that every role has a defined competence requirement, evidence of training and oversight, and a clear escalation route for uncertainty, we can reduce the risk and raise performance – and that is the foundation for right-first-time delivery.”

Jon told members that now is the time for action and advised businesses to map key roles to existing frameworks, implement competence assessments as part of project mobilisation, engage with the ICC and ICSG, and upskill teams “particularly in supervisory, compliance and behavioural competence”.

He said: “In the next 12-18 months you will see lots more guidance, more sector frameworks will be published, and we will be driving adoption of frameworks with other industry bodies. Procurement, audit and insurance processes will start referencing competence criteria. Digital competence tracking will start, linked to the golden thread, and regulators will begin asking you to show them your competence systems. This is now an era where you must prove capability, not just state it. The BSA laid the groundwork. The Building Safety Regulator, ICC and ICSG are building the tools, but it is up to all of us to put them into practice across every role, every project and in every organisation.”

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