The Engineering Council welcomes the publication of the draft Building Safety Bill and recognises that this is a significant and positive step on the journey towards safer buildings.

Professional Engineering Institutions (PEIs) whose members’ work has an impact on building safety continue to work with the Engineering Council to raise the competence of engineering professionals.

This includes professionals who may take on key dutyholder roles whether during design, construction, or – critically - the occupation phase of the building lifecycle.

The Engineering Council is a member of the Competence Steering Group (CSG) established by the Industry Response Group (IRG) to address the need to raise the bar on competence of those working in higher-risk buildings, as identified in the Hackitt Review, Building a Safer Future, responding to the Grenfell Tower fire. The CSG brought together for the first time more than 150 institutions and associations across the full spectrum of construction, built environment, fire safety and building owner/manager sectors; all working towards the common purpose of raising competence to improve life safety.

The second report published by the Industry Safety Steering Group (ISSG) notes that it is “encouraged by the work of Working Group 0, UKAS, the Engineering Council and industry experts to ensure that the standards will enable the independent assessment and third party accreditation of individual schemes offered by qualifying bodies and industry associations”. However, the ISSG states there is still a significant challenge in ensuring that those who work on higher risk buildings (HRRBs) are competent to do so and that this is implemented at all levels across the industry.

The Building Safety Bill will now go through the process of pre-legislative scrutiny which will be carried out by the Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee. The call for evidence (launched on 3 August) will scrutinise the policy objectives, key provisions and likely impact of the draft Bill, including aspects which are considered to go beyond the scope of the Government's consultation. The deadline for responses is 14 September 2020. 

For press enquiries:    

Kate Webster, Engineering Council – kwebster@eng.org.uk, 020 3206 0567

The Engineering Council holds the national Register of Engineering Technicians (EngTech), Incorporated Engineers (IEng), Chartered Engineers (CEng) and Information and Communication Technology Technicians (ICTTech). It also sets and maintains the internationally recognised standards of competence and ethics that govern the award and retention of these titles. By this means it is able to ensure that employers, government and wider society, both at home and overseas, can have confidence in the skills and commitment of registrants. For more information visit: www.engc.org.uk