High-risk buildings standard launched for engineers
The UK standard will assess the competence and commitment of individual engineers in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower disaster in London, UK.
The UK Government’s commitment to building 1.5 million homes highlights the need for competency and safety in engineering buildings.
The new UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence and Commitment contextualised for Higher-Risk Buildings (UK-SPEC HRB) hopes to cement this.
It incorporates BS 8670 – Competence frameworks for building safety – Core criteria. The Code of practice sets out a sector-specific competence framework and is tailored for engineers and technicians working on HRBs.
Demonstrating competence could involve registration against the core framework only, or a combination of the Discipline Annexes: Fire Engineering, Structural Engineering, Building Services Engineering and Facade Engineering.
The UK-SPEC HRB has been developed in response to Dame Judith Hackitt’s independent review of building regulations and fire safety, Building a safer future.
At the launch event at the House of Lords, she stressed the need for this standard to be known throughout the industry, and the benefits of being able to prove that buildings have been designed and constructed by demonstrably competent people.
The standard is a joint effort, led by the Engineering Council, with contributions from the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Institution of Structural Engineers, UK Accreditation Service, Chartered Association of Building Engineers, the Institution of Fire Engineers and the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers.
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