Following the Grenfell Tower disaster in 2017, Dame Judith Hackitt was commissioned by the government to undertake an independent review of building regulations and fire safety and the culture and process of the industry. The final report from this review, Building a Safer Future, was published on 17 May 2018.

The Engineering Council was invited to join the Industry Response Group’s Competence Steering Group (CSG), formed to address the recommendations relating to competence. The Engineering Council was also invited to lead a working group, known as WG1, to develop a contextualised competence standard for engineers working on Higher-Risk Residential Buildings (HRRBs).

The Engineering Council has committed to work with the professional engineering institutions (PEIs) it licenses and the broader cross-industry Competence Steering Group (CSG) to take this forward, as one of a series of solutions to enhance engineering competence and public safety.

The Engineering Council brought relevant PEIs together to discuss contextualised registration for HRRBs and how this could work in practice. The concept of Recognised Standards leading to contextualised registration for a particular sector is already an established principle and such a Standard exists for Electrician EngTech. WG1’s proposals were included in the CSG interim report, Raising the Bar and this work is now moving into the development phase.

In addition to leading the work to develop a contextualised standard for engineers, the Engineering Council has been closely engaged in discussions on the overarching competence body and the mechanism for oversight of bodies that ‘accredit’ competence of individuals.