Standards that build a great British Institution

Recent CABE Webinar Wednesday presenters Ant Burd and Deborah Brown explain the work of the BSI and how CABE members can play a role in raising standards. 

Think of some of the great British institutions and one might initially think of the Royal Family, the Church of England, perhaps the National Trust or the BBC. But it’s fair to say the BSI – the British Standards Institution – would be sat among that pantheon just as easily. 

As the first national standards body of its type anywhere in the world, and now with more than 100 years of history, BSI has set the template for ensuring standards are in place in the UK and beyond. BSI currently has around 80,000 clients, making it one of the world's largest certification bodies. And in terms of public respect, according to a 2006 poll, the BSI’s legendary kitemark is trusted by almost 90% of the British population. 

Specifically in the Built Environment Sector, BSI’s work as the UK national standards body, and guidance it publishes is ubiquitous. A recent CABE Webinar Wednesday presentation by BSI’s Director of Built Environment, Ant Burd and BSI’s Knowledge Sales Director Deborah Brown, gave a fascinating overview of the full reach of BSI’s work in relation to the built environment (see below).

"The way to look at our standards is, if it is a regulated space, we will often directly support the regulatory approach with citation and reference, with our standards providing one way of showing compliance," explains Ant.

"But only about 10% of our standards are conveyed status from regulators: 90% are truly voluntary. If somebody is wanting to do something properly, and there is a lack of guidance because perhaps that area isn’t regulated, our standards set out the latest thinking and best practice.

"Quite often within the built environment, the detail in a contract might supply lists of standards that the customer wants you to conform to. Or, if there is a court case and it involves an aspect of the built environment that is not regulated, or there are no contact conditions, often the court will want to look at a relevant British Standard. Essentially, at their core, our standards set out what ‘good’ looks like."

Expert opinion

BSI facilitates the development of standards – of which, it has a portfolio of about 8,000 for the built environment – by bringing together a range of experts in the specific relevant field. "We have around 3,500 all-important committee experts that work with us," Ant says.

"It’s a collective effort. My committee team overlooks the vast majority of our technical committees. These are populated by experts from across the built environment sector. They bring their intelligence around what is happening in the marketplace. 

"I also have a sector team that undertakes outreach, leading on health and safety, sustainability, construction products, competency and digital. And by background, I am a Chartered building surveyor and building engineer. Through all of that, outreach, talking, being involved in committees, being involved with CABE, we can gather our own intelligence, and our experts bringing things back to us."

As well as its traditional formal British Standards, BSI also has faster tracked PAS standards – which can be produced more quickly but which are still consensus based – and then it has what it calls ‘Flex’ standards, which enable rapid and flexible standardisation in nascent areas where ideas are still developing. 

"For example, 8% of the world’s carbon emissions come from concrete and cement, so as a sector we are going to have to address that, and so we produced a Flex 350 on low-carbon cement," notes Ant.

"In this case, we dealt with the developing side of low-carbon cement by putting guard rails around innovation. We don’t want to stifle innovation but if you are going to move away from established standards, we need these guard rails to let people try something different but also guide them in terms of how they might want to think about testing a product and best ensuring its performance and ongoing safety. 

"Even with our full British Standards or PASs, we aim to be performance or outcome based wherever possible, and prescriptive only where we need to be."

A question of competence

The developing side of standardisation doesn’t only apply to emerging technology: new approaches to more human factors can also cause the BSI to reassess how it achieves a better notion of ‘good’.

"One of the biggest recommendations that came from Dame Judith Hackitt’s independent review following the Grenfell tragedy regarded the importance of people being competent," Ant says.

"If you think about the built environment, you tend to think about the building. Traditionally under building regulations, the requirement was that by the time the building was finished and it became occupied, it should be compliant. But if you are thinking about some of the failings that we’ve seen, such as at Grenfell, a lot of the issues come down to the competency of the individuals involved. 

"As a sector, we have come round to understand, it’s not about just having a compliant building at the end, how do we involve the relevant people along the way who know their own capabilities? And when people are selecting those to do the work, how can they assess those people are capable and competent?"

Off the back of Dame Judith Hackitt’s recommendations, BSI worked directly with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to create four documents that – for the first time ever – looked to establish an overarching framework for professional competency in the built environment, with a primary focus on building safety. 

"We published that overarching competency framework as a Flex to begin with, and then beneath that we looked at some of the key roles: principal contractor, principal designer, building safety manager," Ant says.

"For the first time we set out what a good professional person in that space should have as their capabilities. That means people can now aspire to that level and work with their professional institutions in terms of self-development to show they achieve it. And it helps people assess when they are making selections of those who will work with and for them."

CABE’s influence

When it comes to professional institutions, Ant singles out CABE and CABE’s chief executive Richard Harral as playing a particularly constructive role in establishing these new competence-based standards.

"After publishing those standards we realised very quickly that we should have a dedicated technical committee – CPB/1 – which looks at competency in the built environment and that is chaired by Richard," Ant says.

"The sector has been amazing on this. The Competency Steering Group (and now the ICSG) that has been working on this has written a lot of seed documents, and those have been brought to us for formalisation and public consultation. Now we are starting to see even more: we’ve just published one on the competency of fire risk assessors."

In the case of new standards, Ant is keen to point out you don’t have to be a chief executive or respected organisation to have an influence.

"We have a standards development portal where anybody can go and give us their thoughts about what standards we might need and where. Those ideas will be taken by the most appropriate person and if there is an appropriate committee, the idea will go straight to that," explains Ant. 

"So there are a number of ways that people can become involved. What’s most important is that people realise that anybody can comment and offer their opinions. Nobody should sit back if they have a thought or an idea. Just check the portfolio of standards first, because there’s a very good chance we might already have it covered!"

Accessing your BSI options

Supporting access to standards for micro companies

BSI has been working with CABE to roll out a new solution that provides read only access to the BSI online library of standards. Aimed at the smallest UK companies, who make up the largest proportion of sector, the subscription starts at £360 per year. For more information please visit your CABE member benefits page. 

Watch Ant and Deborah’s CABE Webinar Wednesday presentation below.