by Clair Mooney | 14 Jul, 2022 | Building Safety Act
With the Building Safety Act in force and the Regulator starting to build the infrastructure necessary to manage and monitor and to develop guidance, FIS has developed initial guidance to help members consider what the impact of new Gateways will be on the construction process.
Commenting on the guidance FIS Technical Director, Joe Cilia said:
“It is important to remember that the Building Safety Act is designed to change the process and culture of construction. It is vital that we start to work together to understand the impact and how our processes and working practice will need to evolve. We have been working with a number of groups and felt it important to share our early thinking and start to explore changes with our members.”
FIS is setting up a working group to look at Building Safety Act compliance that will start to meet in the Autumn – if you are interested in getting involved, please email joecilia@thefis.org
by Clair Mooney | 11 Jul, 2022 | Building Safety Act
Watch the recording of CPA’s webinar here
FIS members can access the recording of the CPA’s latest webinar on the Building Safety Act. Peter Caplehorn summarised the key changes of the Act and with the secondary legislation coming into place later in the year, CPA will be hosting another webinar to discuss it – watch this space!
by Clair Mooney | 8 Jul, 2022 | Building Safety Act, Main News Feed
FIS Technical Director Joe Cilia will be taking part in a seminar focussing on fire door compliance and their surrounding supporting constructions. This seminar is a collaboration between Selo | Riser doors & Concealed frame doorsets, Knauf and FIS, to help the whole industry progress.
Understanding the issues and interface between the supporting structure, and the fire doors is key for a compliant installation, yet things can be missed especially in the construction phase when temporary doors are installed.
The event is being held on 14 July and can be attended in person, or online. For more details and to register visit https://selo.global/seminar-doors-walls-under-review/
by Clair Mooney | 8 Jul, 2022 | Building Safety Act
The Building Safety Act has now taken effect, introducing the most significant changes to building safety regulation in a generation, including:
- An extension of the limitation period for claims brought under the Defective Premises Act, both retrospectively from six to 30 years for dwellings completed before 28 June 2022, and prospectively from six to 15 years for dwellings completed after this date.
- The introduction of the Building Safety Regulator and Construction Products Regulator.
- A new gateway system to ensure building safety requirements are met throughout the planning and construction process, along with the requirement to maintain a ‘golden thread’ of information throughout a building’s lifecycle.
- An extension of the Building Safety Levy worth an estimated £3 billion.
The Government has published a series of factsheets to help dutyholders and the wider industry understand the new requirements.
by Iain McIlwee | 7 Jul, 2022 | Building Safety Act, Main News Feed, Skills
Following the Grenfell Tower fire, FIS has been working at the heart of Working Group Two (WG2), established as one of the Competence Steering Group (CSG) working groups to look at the competence of those installing fire safety systems. This remit subsequently expanded to cover all installers working in construction and the built environment.
WG2 has recommended that the industry should adopt a framework for all the installer sectors working on in-scope buildings that can be applied to other project types. The framework will consist of:
1. Accredited third party certification of companies
2. Level 2 or 3 qualifications for individuals
3. A card scheme such as, but not limited to, the CSCS
4. CPD refresher training and the maintenance of individual skills
5. All installers have a core knowledge of fire safety in buildings – training to be standardised and made mandatory
In line with these recommendations, WG2 has completed the first phase of its work benchmarking the existing competence arrangements of six pilot installer sectors which have the potential to significantly impact on life safety. The six pilot sectors are:
1. Domestic Plumbing and Heating
2. Dry Lining
3. Fire Detection and Alarms
4. Fire Stopping Specialist
5. Rainscreen Cladding
6. Roofing
The objective of ‘Pilots – phase one,’ was to establish the current competence arrangements, compare them to the WG2’s
recommendations and BSI Flex 8670: Core criteria for building safety in competence frameworks – Code of practice and identify
any gaps.
These Pilots have been completed and WG2 will now move to phase two and the six pilot installer sectors will reconvene with their own Chairs and Terms of Reference, to develop their sector-specific competence frameworks to meet the recommendations set out in Setting the Bar. This work is expected to last between six to nine months with each sector developing a timeline and implementation plan for addressing the shortcomings.
FIS has helped to assemble a working group to focus on Dry Lining, with the initial meeting of the Working Group Chairs scheduled for September. The organisation is providing support to this group to link to the work around firewalls identification and labelling and ensure that competency frameworks developed and the processes, support required to deliver the required level of competence are practical and to identify any obstacles to systemic success.
FIS CEO Iain McIlwee commented: “The Building Safety Act is here and we need to ensure that we have robust processes to meet the exacting requirements. Competence is at the heart of it and we looking forward to using this pilot to pull together a lot of hard work that has been put in by members and particularly our Skills Board to ensure that we don’t just know what good looks like, but we know how to get there. This is a great opportunity to show that the sector is stepping up.”
The latest report Working Group 2 report which provides more context is available here – if you are interested in finding out more about this work and getting involved in the pilot group email iainmcilwee@thefis.org
Find out more about the FIS Competency Passport system here
Find out more about the Building Safety Act here
by Clair Mooney | 1 Jul, 2022 | Building Safety Act, Skills, Transformation
Build UK is working on behalf of its members to do what they can to address the inflationary pressures currently facing the industry. In addition, Build UK has been taking forward its work on long‐standing issues as part of
Improving Business Performance, Increasing Productivity, and Recruiting, Training and Retaining Talent across the whole supply chain.
The statutory review of the Duty to Report regulations published in April highlighted the ‘positive impact’ that Build UK’s benchmarking of payment performance has had across the sector, with Build UK contractor members now taking an average of just 32 days to pay invoices. Ahead of the Building Safety Act coming into force this week,the Working Group 2 report was delivered, benchmarking the competence requirements for six occupations identified as priorities for ensuring fire safety in buildings. Along with the CSCS Smart Check app launched in April, this represents a major step towards ensuring that individuals deemed competent have the appropriate knowledge, skills and training to undertake their role.
