The Growing Importance of Building Safety Competence

Competence: The New Watchword of UK Building Safety

The Building Safety Act 2022 introduced competence as a central concept in the UK's building safety framework. The Hackitt Review — which preceded the Act — found that competence failures across the construction industry had contributed to the conditions that made the Grenfell Tower fire possible. Architects, contractors, building control inspectors, and fire safety consultants had all, in different ways, failed to demonstrate the level of competence that the design and delivery of safe buildings requires. The Building Safety Act's response was to make competence a legal obligation, not just a professional aspiration.

What Competence Means in Practice

Competence in the context of building safety means more than holding a qualification. It means having the knowledge, skills, experience, and behaviours to carry out a defined role safely and effectively. The Building Safety Act and its associated secondary legislation set out competence requirements for the key duty holders on higher-risk building projects, including:

• The principal designer — responsible for planning, managing, monitoring, and coordinating the pre-construction phase of a higher-risk building project, including the co-ordination of fire safety and structural safety information. Must be registered with the BSR and demonstrate the relevant competence.
• The principal contractor — responsible for planning, managing, monitoring, and co-ordinating the construction phase. Must also be registered with the BSR.
• Accountable persons — must demonstrate the competence to fulfil their building safety case duties, either personally or by appointing suitably competent advisers.
• Fire engineers — for higher-risk buildings, the lead fire engineer is expected to hold Chartered Engineer (CEng) status and to have demonstrated relevant project experience. The BSR scrutinises the competence of the fire engineer responsible for the fire strategy at Gateway 2.

The Third-Party Certification and Accreditation Landscape

In response to the competence requirements of the Building Safety Act, the industry has developed a range of third-party certification and accreditation schemes for individuals and organisations working on higher-risk buildings. For fire engineers, professional membership of the Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE) or the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), combined with Chartered Engineer registration, is the primary indicator of competence. The UK Competence Steering Group has published a framework for building safety competence that provides guidance on the standards expected at different levels of building complexity.

Competence for Fire Risk Assessors

For fire risk assessors — who carry out fire risk assessments under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 — competence requirements have also been strengthened. The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 require that fire risk assessments for residential buildings over 11 metres are carried out by a competent person, and for buildings over 18 metres, the expected level of competence is higher still. Third-party accreditation schemes for fire risk assessors — including those operated by the IFE and BAFE — are increasingly expected by building owners and the enforcing authorities.

Why Competence Matters Beyond Compliance

Competence requirements exist not just to satisfy regulatory obligations but because incompetent fire safety work has real consequences. An inadequate fire strategy can allow a building to be constructed with deficiencies that put occupants at risk. An inadequate fire risk assessment can fail to identify hazards that lead to preventable deaths. The Grenfell Tower Inquiry identified competence failures at multiple points in the chain of events that led to the fire — a lesson that the building safety sector must not forget.