PRESS RELEASE Date: 22/05/24

Building Safety Alliance releases crucial guidance documents to elevate competence standards in residential occupied sector

The Building Safety Alliance, a collaborative effort uniting leading industry figures, associations, and bodies, has announced the publication of two pivotal documents aimed at bolstering competence standards and fostering the recruitment of qualified professionals within the residential occupied sector.

The newly unveiled documents, BSAS 01:2024 Organisational Capability Management System Standard and Guidelines outlining competence expectations for stakeholders involved in specifying, procuring, and managing services for occupied high-rise and higher-risk residential buildings in England, serve as essential resources for organisations seeking to enhance competence within their building safety functions. These initiatives align with the imperative of meeting the requirements set by the new building safety regime and its regulations pertaining to competence.

In an evolving landscape where evidence of competence management, particularly organisational capability, is increasingly scrutinised, stakeholders across the sector must demonstrate their commitment to upholding rigorous standards. Clients will demand tangible proof of competence management, compelling organisations of all sizes and complexities within the supply chain to ensure the proficiency of their workforce, including contracted and subcontracted personnel.

The development of these documents is a testament to the dedication and expertise of industry professionals who have tirelessly contributed to their creation.

Anthony Taylor, Building Safety Alliance said:

“The Alliance wish to thank all those who have given their valuable time and knowledge to developing common approaches to the requirements of the new regulatory regime. We would also extend our thanks to those representatives of BSR and DLUHC who acted as observers to the groups who have been developing these documents over many months.”

The Standard and the Guidelines documents are immediately available through the Building Safety Alliance website https://buildingsafetyalliance.org.uk/ . The Standard will next become part of the British Standards Institute (BSI) standards development process, towards a Publicly Available Specification (PAS) or full British Standard (BS). Both documents are available free of charge - anyone interested in the Standard, will be engaged in a feedback process. For more information and to enquire about collaborating on the Building Safety Alliance’s work, please visit buildingsafetyalliance.org.uk.

ENDS

Notes to the editor

1. The Building Safety Alliance is in the process of transforming into a charity, it is comprised of organisations representative of, and from across the industry sector managing the occupation phase. The ‘Council’ of the Building Safety Alliance includes supporters and experts coming from the social housing sector, commercial and residential management, facilities managers, and fire safety experts. Most importantly, it includes the resident voice.
   Representatives want to drive culture change and competence in buildings to give residents safe homes. Many of them first worked together as Working Group (WG8) to develop the competence framework for Building Safety Managers, under the auspices of the Competence Steering Group. WG8’s report Safer people, safer homes: Building Safety Management was published on 5th October 2020.
2. BSAS 01:2024 Organisational Capability Management System Standard - The new regulatory Regime under the Building Safety Act 2022 includes specific requirements in regard to individual competence and ‘Organisational Capability’ – effectively the management of competence within an organisation.

The requirements affect both the design and construction phases (Part 3 of the Act) and the management of residential buildings (Part 4 of the Act).

Organisations will, increasingly, be expected to provide evidence as to how they manage competence, their ‘Organisational Capability’. This will affect all areas of the supply chain as Clients will require this evidence, and organisations of all shapes, sizes and complexities will be expected to show how they manage the competence of their direct workforce and ensure that those contracted and sub-contracted to them are also properly managing competence.

This Standard has been developed and published by the Building Safety Alliance to assist both Clients who have to undertake appropriate due diligence on those they employ and organisations that seek to be employed to be able to evidence they have appropriate ‘capability’ in place. 3. Guidelines regarding competence expectations for those specifying, procuring and managing services to occupied high-rise and higher-risk residential buildings - The Building Safety Alliance has worked with a number of organisations to deliver this guidance document to assist Clients, (Principal) Accountable Persons, Facilities and Property Managers in determining the competence-related expectations they may choose to place on those individuals who deliver services on their behalf to occupied high-rise residential buildings.

It will also assist all these parties to show the residents for whose safety they are responsible that those working in, on or around their homes are appropriately competent to do so. It is intended to aid:

• those specifying works/contracts to set an easily recognisable standard of competence they require of individuals actually delivering the work.
• those procuring the work against a specification to set the standard of competence they require of individuals actually delivering the work. This could then be used by organisations tendering for the work to assure their client that they can, and will, deliver the appropriate staff to deliver the work.
• those who are responsible for managing works within the building (e.g.: property/building/facility managers) can easily check that the person presenting themselves to undertake the work is truly competent to do so, again using an easily recognisable standardised set of criteria.

4. Press Contact:
   Anthony Taylor (Interim Chair) Anthony.Taylor@resolvegroup.co.uk +44 (0)7902 269405 Sofie Hooper (Interim Executive) Sofie.Hooper@IWFM.org.uk +44 (0)7885 284798 Mark Snelling (interim Executive) mark.snelling@safetymark.net +44 (0)7802 939844