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?

Last week Sofie Hooper, APS CEO, attended an update roundtable with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). The Department has introduced these update roundtables now that the Call for evidence on the Professions strategy has been closed. It is part of MHCLG’s programme of engagement towards implementing the Grenfell Inquiry recommendations and developing the strategy for professions, trades and occupations to ensure professionals can help ensure buildings are safe for all. The roundtables provide an opportunity for professional bodies, trade associations and similar stakeholders to ask questions about next steps and to feed constructively into policy development.

In line with the May publication of the Post Implementation Review on CDM 2015, APS has been working to provide clarity on the competences for the Principal Designer (PD) CDM. The APS PD CDM Competence working group came together on Friday 25^th September to discuss next steps. While much of the focus of the last year has continued to be on the Building Regulations side of things, since the PIR was published in May, APS have been able to focus more on the CDM agenda, including through discussions in CONIAC, supported by our Board member Helena Knight, who plays a pivotal role in these discussions. Additionally, within CIC, its Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee, and other CONIAC related groups, are also focusing on other areas of the regime, including the issue of domestic clients. Philip Baker, convenor of our Fellows Group is driving much of the work in this area.

Attention is starting to shift onto clients and how they meet their duties. This was evident from the questions in the Call for evidence on the Professions Strategy and was one of the key issues raised at the APS conference in terms of driving up overall competence standards and meeting outcomes of both the CDM and the Building Regulations regime. On Friday, APS met with the Building Safety Regulator to discuss this issue more broadly.

Recent updates that members should know about

Welsh consultation on implementing the Building Safety Act – Category 1 and 2 buildings

The Welsh Government have published a consultation under the Building Safety (Wales) Act 2026 which proposes the content of regulations determining the principal accountable person, registration of category 1 and 2 buildings with building safety authorities and fees charged by building safety authorities.

 APS will be engaging with the consultation and would encourage members who would want to support our submission to get in touch with us at info@aps.org.uk  

The proposals can be found at: https://www.gov.wales/implementing-building-safety-wales-act-2026-principal-accountable-person-registration-and-fees.
The deadline for submissions is 18^th December.

What’s coming up this week? (28 September- 3 October 2026)

Meetings that APS is involved in this week include:

• Compliance Plan Industry Change Group, BE-ST on behalf of the Scottish Building Safety Division
• Meeting with the chair of the Principal Designer BR Working Group within the Industry Competence Steering Group (ICSG) - to discuss the paper on the role of the PD BR
• Clarion Housing event with Dame Judith Hackitt and Charlie Pugsley, CEO of the Building Safety Regulator

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.

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