The Industry Task and Finish Group (ITFG) has today published its guidance on Managing Competence in the Built Environment: An industry guide on how to meet the ICC principles, providing practical, proportionate and risk-based support for organisations operating across the built environment.
The ITFG is an industry‑led, time‑limited group formed in June 2025 in response to the new Building Safety Regime’s requirement to manage competence in organisations. It brings together more than 50 professional bodies, industry organisations, regulators and assurance bodies, with the shared aim of translating high‑level principles for managing competence in the built environment into a practical day‑to‑day application that is recognised across the sector and helps drive up competence and building safety outcomes.
The guidance sets out what effective organisational competence management looks like in practice for organisations of all sizes and risk profiles, SMEs, micro-businesses and large organisations alike, enabling them to demonstrate that people working for them, or on their behalf, are competent for the work they undertake.
Its flexible and proportionate approach means that the guidance can be used alongside existing management systems, or as a foundation where no formal approach is yet in place. Although prompted to meet competence management requirements set by building safety reforms, it can be used more widely across the built environment.
The guidance has been developed alongside, and is fully aligned with, the Industry Competence Committee (ICC) publication Setting Expectations on Competence Management. Used together, the ICC advice sets out what good looks like at a high level, while the ITFG guidance explains how organisations can put those principles into practice.
The guidance looks at the role of organisational leadership and governance, while emphasising that actively managing competence is not simply about qualifications or training records; it is about ensuring that organisations have enough people with the right skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours for their role.
Using the principles set out in the ICC document, the ITFG guidance sets out the key elements organisations, SME’s and large organisations alike, should think about when putting effective competence management in place, defining what competence is needed for different roles and activities, assessing and verifying competence, and making sure competence is monitored and maintained over time.
Sofie Hooper, Chair of the ITFG comments:
“With competence being a critical determinant of health and safety, building safety and quality outcomes, the management of competence by organisations is not only a requirement for building safety, but it actively underpins the safety, performance and reliability of structures through the built environment.
“This important document will provide much needed guidance across the sector on how to manage competence well and it could not have been done without the cross sector support and the dedication of the experts in the Steering Group. We would also like to thank the ICC for the collaboration so that we could align our guidance- making a difference together.”
The guidance will next play a key role in shaping the development of a future British Standard on managing competence in organisations.
Available from supporting organisations’ websites, the ITFG and ICC documents are both also available from the BSI Competence hub, where organisations using the guidance can share their feedback and practical experience of the guidance. The ITFG will next be developing case studies and encourages organisations wanting to contribute to get in touch with Sofie.Hooper@aps.org.uk.