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 saw the launch of the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) in England as a stand-alone body now moved out of the HSE, with MHCLG becoming a sponsoring department. It was hailed by the Government as the first step towards the single construction regulator, by promoting competence and higher standards. The move will see a significant ‘operational reset’ in the BSR’s role as the building control authority for higher-risk buildings. An important note in the announcement is that the regulator’s “mandate extends far beyond high-rise oversight to a broader responsibility for safety and standards across buildings in England”. The BSR is working towards a holistic approach that spans from initial design through to lifelong building management, driving professional competence across the whole built environment and refining regulatory guidance as key levers. The full press release can be found here.

• On 28th January APS presented at an FMB webinar about the Industry Task and Finish Group’s forthcoming guidance on managing competence in organisations. Many interesting questions were asked with organisations expressing an interested in being able to externally validate the work they are doing.

• APS attended the CIC 2050 Group meeting on 26 January and the CIC Membership Panel on 28 January.

• Sofie met with both the Engineering Council and the Industry Competence Steering Group (ICSG) to discuss recent developments around competence and especially the evolving policy around the regulation of professions.

Recent updates members should know about

Scotland

The Scottish Government published a blog last week on the Compliance Plan Approach – Guidance for Local Authority Verifiers.

BSI Competence hub launch

The BSI held its Competence Hub launch event on 27th January. The Competence Hub was developed in collaboration with ICSG and BSR and seeks to bring industry together to engage on competence and share best practice. It will collect all the key resources, standards, tools, guidance and competence frameworks in one place, to make it easier for people to keep track of developments in this area. Users will need to register to get access, but once you have done so, you can find the launch webinar and launch slides, in the Latest Discussions section of the welcome page.

What’s coming up this week? (2- 8 February)

Meetings APS is involved in this week include:

• Building Safety Regulator CEO Town Hall webinar- questions about the current priorities of the BSR and its move from HSE to become a standalone non‑departmental public body within MHCLG were answered by Lord Andy Roe (chair BSR) and Charlie Pugsley (CEO BSR).

• CIC Building Safety Committee

• Sector Led Group 7- competence framework for project management in the built environment

• APS internal CDM dutyholders competence framework review session

• CIC Liability Panel

• CIC Finance and Governance Committee

• CIC Digital Forum

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.