Part 3: Building Act 1984 Building control authorities and building regulations Section 35: Industry competence Background
Building regulations do not currently make any particular provision relating to competence of persons carrying out building work. Regulation 7(1)(b) provides that "building work shall be carried out in a workmanlike manner", but this is focused on the quality of the work rather than the competence of the person doing it. Approved Document 7 provides some guidance on meeting the requirement in regulation 7(1)(b).
	The Construction, Design and Management (CDM) Regulations 2015 include general duties in relation to the competence of designers (including Principal Designers) and contractors (including Principal Contractors). There are also duties on contractors to ensure the competence of those they appoint to work on construction sites. These duties focus on ensuring good management of health, safety and welfare when carrying out construction projects rather than on the safety and quality of buildings, and do not have specific provisions relating to higher-risk buildings.
	The new provisions will impose general duties in relation to competence of persons carrying out any work on all buildings to ensure compliance with building regulations.
Example
The Client intends to commission an eight-storey residential building and appoints a Principal Designer to lead on the design work. Prior to the appointment, the Client must assess that the nominated Principal Designer has the appropriate skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours and organisational capability to carry out their duties under building regulations in relation to the specific higher-risk building. In making this assessment, the Client considers statutory guidance which provides examples of the skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours and organisational capability required to work on higher-risk buildings.
The Client decides to appoint a company which demonstrates the organisational capability and ensures that the individual nominated by the company to manage its functions as the Principal Designer has the relevant skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours for the particular building, as explained in guidance. This may be demonstrated by, for example, being assessed by an accredited organisation as meeting the competence standards for the Principal Designer and having relevant experience working on the same type of buildings. The Principal Designer must also make sure that anyone they appoint to carry out design work is competent for their role.
Once the design stage is completed, the Client then procures for the construction of the building. Before appointing a Principal Contractor, the Client must assess that the nominated Principal Contractor has the appropriate skills, knowledge, experience, behaviours and organisational capability to carry out their duties under building regulations in relation to the specific building. Similarly, the Client considers statutory guidance and appoints a company which demonstrates the organisational capability, and ensures that the individual nominated by the company to manage its functions as the Principal Contractor has the relevant skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours for the particular building, and has met the competence standard for the Principal Contractor, as explained in guidance.
During construction, the Principal Contractor must make sure that anyone they appoint to carry out building work is competent for their role or is being trained and appropriately supervised by a competent supervisor.