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?

• The week kicked off with Sofie Hooper, APS DCEO, attending a meeting of the Industry Competence Steering Group (ICSG) Sector-Led Group 7 on project managers. The Group discussed the briefs for two further planned competence frameworks in this broad area; programme management and portfolio management. Once the briefs are finalised, APS will issue a call to members for interested parties to be an APS representative. The MHCLG Call for Evidence on the professions’ strategy was also discussed. For project management, the structure of the consultation across the lifecycle of the building means that the project management profession will need to engage with the entirety of the consultation, much like the situation for APS and its professionals.

• On Wednesday, APS President Mark Snelling and DCEO Sofie Hooper attended the CIC June Council meeting and AGM. The AGM concluded fairly promptly, before the Council meeting saw presentations from both Charlie Pugsley (CEO, Building Safety Regulator) and Alexandra Parish (MHCLG, Deputy Director, leading on the Professions Strategy). The presentations provided a useful opportunity to ask questions of those in the room. The key message to take away is that ‘whole systems change’ is the intent behind the post-Grenfell changes yet to come, including the Professions Strategy. Additionally, MHCLG made it clear they want to encourage responses to their call for evidence from both individuals and organisations.

• The APS Board meeting took place on Thursday 11 June in London, with an opportunity for the Board members to discuss face-to-face the various external developments taking place and what they mean for APS and its members. The Board discussed current activities and strategic priorities for APS and members can look forward to hearing more about new initiatives aimed at enhancing member support and driving up competence.

• Friday saw the ‘As-Built Working Group’ convening again in a meeting hosted by BIM4Housing. Both Mark Snelling and Sofie Hooper attended the meeting which saw discussion progress from the definition of ‘As-Built Information’ towards discussing what the minimum expectations are around the quality of the information. Digital requirements were discussed as well as the level of detail required in the records. Discussion also covered what should be required in terms of verification/validation and the evidence that should help transform the records into trustworthy, reliable information. A further meeting is expected this week.

• Sunday marked the ninth anniversary of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, which claimed the lives of 72 people. With the demolition of the building now underway, and any remaining part of the structure soon to disappear, APS remains committed to learning the lessons of the Grenfell tragedy which cost so much. APS will not forget why we must remain committed to driving competence through the built environment professions.

Recent updates members should know about

MHCLG webinars on the call for evidence for the Professions’ Strategy

Following the call for evidence on the built environment professions, trades and occupations published by Government in May, MHCLG has announced two public webinars as part of their engagement programme.

You can read more about the two webinar dates and how to sign up to them here.

APS is also calling on all members to support the APS submission, which will be finalised in collaboration with the Fellows. You can read more about this here.

BSR building control approval application data update (England)

The Building Safety Regulator published its latest tranche of building control approval application data including the number of applications received, determination times, decision outcomes and performance against statutory time limits between March and May 2026.

Some headline numbers for new build are:

• In the 12-week rolling period to 29 May, 31 new build Innovation Unit (IU) applications have been determined with 64 new applications received.

• Of the 31 decisions made in the 12-week rolling period, 28 were approvals and 3 were rejections. This means that the 12-week rolling approval rate now stands at 90%, with a median approval time of 22 weeks.

• Transitional cases now stand at 42, reflecting our acceptance of projects that were previously managed by Assent Building Control which ceased trading in late 2025.

• Over the past 12 weeks new applications for 13,964 residential units have been received. This has been outstripped by decisions, with applications for 14,928 units being determined, of which 9,499 (64%) were approvals. There are currently 38,775 units in progress cases.

Both the Excel and PDF documents can be found here.

What’s coming up this week? (15-21 June)

Meetings that APS is involved in this week include

• CLOCS Safety Forum: Smarter Safety - AI, Technology and the Future of Construction Logistics

• SSIP Forum

• SBCC June 2026 Committee and Board Meeting

• CPB/1 meeting – BSI committee looking at competence in the built environment

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.