APS has increased its sector-wide engagement to better support members in developing and maintaining professional competence. Each week, we’ll share an update from APS HQ so you can see the breadth of work being carried out for your benefit.

What’s been happening?

• On Wednesday, APS HQ underwent its annual audit to assess ongoing conformity with ISO 9001. Nicola Lally, our Head of Operations, guided the auditors through our systems and processes, and APS subsequently achieved recertification. As a professional body, APS exists to drive up professional standards for our members and registrants, and we are equally committed to providing the highest quality service and support to our members. Our ISO 9001 certification, of which we are very proud, is external validation of that commitment.

• Also on Wednesday, APS attended a Welsh Government Stakeholder session which saw four separate workshop sessions, reviewing the four different approaches proposed for the future building control regime in Wales. The Local Partnerships team will now collate their final report for consultation with the Welsh Government, with the aim of sharing it by the end of June.

• Lastly, on Wednesday, Sofie Hooper (Deputy CEO), attended the CIC Membership Panel. There were two important presentations on the agenda - an update by the CIC Chair on competence work undertaken considering the Call for Evidence on the Professions Strategy, and an update from Mina Hasman, the chair of the CIC’s Climate Change Committee. After those presentations, Graham Watts, CIC CEO, provided a brief update on the Single Construction Regulator progress and the Call for evidence for the Professions Strategy. An update followed on the forthcoming governance changes before closing the meeting shortly after.

• The CIC Liability Panel on Thursday was the next external meeting for Sofie Hooper, with discussions taking place on various Risk Management Briefings (RMB) under development. Important to know for our members is that the group has been developing a CDM RMB. The panel, and APS, will get to review the draft RMB before it goes through its final governance checks and then publication.

• Friday kicked off with a really engaging Special Fellows meeting, to discuss the recent publication of the second post implementation review (PIR) of CDM 2015 and the call for evidence on the forthcoming Professions Strategy. After discussion the PIR recommendations and next steps for the Fellows, the Call for Evidence on the Professions Strategy was introduced. APS is calling on support from its Fellows and Certified members to feed into this important consultation that allows us to convey the importance of both the Principal Designer Role under CDM 2015 and the Principal Designer role under the Building Regulations 2010 As amended. In addition to articulating their importance and the need for competent people, APS is keen to submit evidence on where the gaps and barriers are to deliver against the expectations of the roles, and how Government could incentivise greater competence. Fellows and Certified members keen to support the APS submission, can find more information about the call for evidence here . Please get in touch with Sofie.hooper@aps.org.uk to obtain the APS word document to feed into the questions. Members should send their comments back to Sofie by 13th July so that APS can compile the full submission before the deadline of 12th August.

• Also on Friday, Sofie attended another meeting of the ‘As built’ working group chaired by Anthony Taylor and hosted by BIM4Housing. Having agreed a draft definition at the last meeting of what ‘as built’ information is, this meeting started to focus on how it can be applied in practice – how it can be specified, validated, delivered and used across the lifecycle of a built asset. This work will have an impact on APS members, who will be contribution to the collection of the information.

Recent updates members should know about

CLC publishes further guidance for Gateway 2 documentation

On 4th June, the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) published two further chapters in their gateway 2 guidance - guidance notes on the Fire and Emergency File (Chapter 10) and the Building Regulations Compliance Statement for Building Control approval applications for new Higher-Risk Buildings (HRBs) (Chapter 11). Read more here.

CROSS publication Mind the Gap - Bridging gaps between structural and fire engineering (Building Regulation)

Cross published this Topic Paper on 27th May, which was recommended by the Chair of our Fellows Group. The paper identifies potential gaps between the structural and fire engineering disciplines, as well as gaps in guidance and practice, which may result in fire safety responsibilities not being adequately discharged.

It seeks to stimulate discussions and prompt practitioners to reflect on where current approaches may not fully align with the intent of the Building Regulations.

The context for this Paper is the Building Regulations 2010 and the associated Approved Documents, which are primarily applicable to building work in England. However, many of the themes discussed are also relevant to practice in other nations within the UK.

The paper is available here.

What’s coming up this week? (8-12 June)

Meetings APS is involved in this week include:

• ICSG Sector Led Group 7 – project managers

• CIC June Council meeting and AGM

• APS Board meeting

We’ll continue to keep members updated on key developments and engagement across the industry as plans for 2026 take shape.

If you would like to contribute or share expertise on issues that matter to you, please contact APS HQ at info@aps.org.uk.