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?

In the run up to next week’s Budget, external meetings appear to find their way around

• APS CEO, Sofie Hooper and APS President, Mark Snelling attended the BSI’s CPB/1 – the key BSI Committee for competence in the Built Environment, which brings together the key stakeholders from across the sector who are driving up competence, including the ICC and the Regulator. Updates on various initiatives were discussed, and an initial discussion took place about the merits of having a benchmarking standard for health and safety competence much like BS8670-1 is for building safety. Sofie updated the group about progress on BS8770, the standard that is translating the work of the Industry Task and Finish Group on the management of competence in organisations into a British Standard. APS President Mark Snelling is one of the people holding the pen on that standard. Discussion also took place on the uptake of PD Building Regulations Registers, as RIBA queried how other professional bodies were experiencing the delivery. More broadly, discussion took place about the need to support micro and small businesses with more guidance to achieve what is expected of everyone around the competence agenda.
• Sofie also participated in several CIC meetings which focused on competence and the role of professional bodies in driving up competence standards.

Recent updates that members should know about

Building Safety Regulator (England) publishes independent report on Approved Document K

The report published last week by the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) supports the option to improve the guidance in Approved Document K for general access stairs. The report considers how proposed changes to stair dimensions could affect safety and fall risk and compares current guidance with relevant British Standards.

The report was followed on Friday 16 October by a Written Material Statement by Minister Eshalomi to announce a forthcoming Part K and Approved Document K Call for Evidence. The BSR is expected to publish the Part K and Approved Document K Call for Evidence on Citizen Space this week. It will seek views on gaps, issues and potential improvements across Part K and its associated guidance.

The BSR’s report can be found here. The Written Ministerial Statement can be here.

Government introduces The Building Safety (Remediation of Unsafe Cladding etc) Bill to Parliament (England)

The Building Safety (Remediation of Unsafe Cladding etc) Bill will deliver on the legislative commitments of the Remediation Acceleration Plan, which was introduced in December 2024 and updated in July 2025.

This bill’s objectives are to:

• create certainty of which buildings require cladding remediation and to what standard
• give regulators the powers they need to hold the worst blockers to account, ensuring those responsible for fixing historic and ongoing failures do so more quickly
• make the companies that made unsafe building products contribute to fix the problems they caused
• ensure all residents have a route to remediation, and that no building is left behind

A guide was published alongside the bill which summarises the bill’s reforms. You can find the guide here.

What’s coming up this week? (19-25 October 2026)

Meetings that APS is involved in this week include:

• Industry Competence Steering Group Sector Led Group (SLG) 11 is meeting on Wednesday. This group focuses on competence requirements for the occupation phase and also covers building work in existing buildings. The latter is especially of interest for APS members as it seeks to drive up standards around a lifecycle approach to which our members contribute.
• Meeting with Industry colleagues on the role of the PD Building Regulations.
• CEO Sofie Hooper attends Industry CDM Roundtable with colleagues from across the sector.

We’ll continue to keep members updated on key developments and engagement across the sector through the APS weekly alert, the APS news page and across social media channels where appropriate.