Industry guidance on managing competence in organisations across the built environment

Who are the ITFG?

The ITFG is a 50 strong cross-sector collaboration of professional bodies, regulators and sector organisations. They joined efforts in response to the requirements of the new building safety regime to demonstrate the management of competence and set out to meet the need for clear, scalable, practical and proportionate approaches to organisational competence, which were consistent across the built environment.

Who the guidance is for?

The Guidance is specifically designed to assist SMEs and micro businesses as well as large organisations, to effectively manage competence in their organisations in a manner that is proportionate, pragmatic, risk-based and flexible in their context. 

The ITFG guidance applies to organisations responsible for managing people carrying out work across the built environment. This includes organisations that commission, design, deliver or support work, as well as those managing contractors, professional service providers or supply chains.

Alignment with the ICC’s advice for industry 

Aligned with the Industry Competence Committee’s Setting Expectations on Competence Management - ICC Advice for Industry, the ITFG guidance explains how organisations can put the ICC’s high level expectations of what good looks like into practice. 

The alignment is the result of a collaboration between both groups, with an ICC observer participating in the ITFG, and the ITFG chair having been co-opted into the ICC Group. Used together, the ICC advice and ITFG guidance provide a consistent framework that organisations can adapt to their own context.

What the guidance does

The ITFG guidance sets out the key elements organisations 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.

It also provides guidance on how to work this approach alongside existing management system arrangements that organisations already have in place, rather than replacing them, or as a foundation where no formal approach is yet in place.

Aiming to drive up competence and improve building safety outcomes across the built environment, the guidance is freely available from supporting organisations’ websites and from the BSI Competence hub. 

The Engineering Council's role in the development of the guidance

The Engineering Council welcomed the opportunity to join the ITFG and contribute to development of this guidance. As the UK regulatory body for the engineering profession, we register competent engineers and technicians who are committed to professional, ethical practice and public safety in the built environment sector through our principal and Higher-Risk Buildings Registers. 

Where next?

The guidance is also an important foundation for the future development of a British Standard on managing competence in organisations. Organisations and people  interested in contributing to the forthcoming British Standards are encouraged to provide feedback based on their experience of using the guidance via the BSI Competence Hub.

The ITFG will also be seeking to develop case studies, anyone interested in contributing towards those can get in touch with the Chair of the ITFG Sofie.Hooper@aps.org.uk