ICSG restructure emphasises renewed commitment to enhancing competence

The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) has announced a comprehensive restructure of the Industry Competence Steering Group (ICSG) to enhance competence and safety standards across the built environment.

In a statement released earlier this month, the ICSG said it has transitioned to become a formal working group of the Industry Competence Committee (ICC) under the Building Safety Regulator (BSR).

Established in response to the Grenfell Tower Fire and subsequent Hackitt Review, the ICSG said the move signals a strategic shift towards more rigorous industry-wide competence frameworks. 

Gill Hancock, Head of Technical Content at the Association for Project Management, also serves as Co-chair of the ICSG, and helped lead the restructure. She believes that by collaborating with both industry and the Building Safety Regulator, it can enable real culture change, in relation to competence, across the built environment.

"This is one of the biggest comings together across the built environment industry in terms of looking at competence, enabling people to access competence, and demonstrate this as required by the Building Safety Act. By having coverage across the industry from construction products through to demolition and disposal, including in occupation the industry is moving away from working in siloes and instead working together for safer outcomes.

"For project professionals, this will help get everyone talking same language, and projects should become more efficient and safer. It is part of the wider culture change that moves away from focusing on getting things done as quickly and cheaply as possible, instead shifting towards getting things right first time, meeting the functional requirements and keeping people safe.”

Gill's Co-chair, Hanna Clarke, who is also Digital and Policy Manager at the Construction Products Association, added: "The new relationship between the ICC and the ICSG is key to transforming the competence of the industry. ICC aims to set expectations for industry and challenge it. The ICSG is where industry can collaborate to meet those challenges.

"The ICSG also provides the ICC with a clear picture of what industry is doing, feeds back on what challenges industry is facing, and which levers can be pulled to improve competence. We are able to work together on developing solutions and aim to provide clear messages and guidance for the industry and the public about competence."

Under its new chairs, the ICSG restructure will better cover the built environment’s disciplines and support existing work across the industry, they said.

The new structure includes sector-led groups, key topic groups, and working groups. They currently bring together contributions from more than 60 professional and trade bodies and 1500 individuals in the built environment, with membership of the sector-led groups still growing.