Welcome

The industry continues to experience unprecedented changes in safety and this issue covers some of the considerations. I read with interest the feature (page 12) by Robert Ryall and Helen Young, who discuss the Building Safety Act (2022) from a legal standpoint. They make some key points about preparation for the Building Safety Act (2022) in England and what we can do as individuals and companies. As companies, try and be as prepared as you can and have a strategy in place for effective implementation. As professionals, try to get everything you need up to date such as continuing professional development records and CVs.

CABE has launched its CABE Building Inspector Competence Assessment Scheme (CBICAS) competency framework, which enables building control professionals to be assessed ready for the Building Safety Act (2022). I thank the team at CABE HQ for all their hard work to get us across the line with the Building Safety Regulator. This puts CABE in a great place for the future, as it is the only Professional Engineering Institution (PEI) to have a framework that can support its members in demonstrating competency to the Building Safety Regulator.

The National Audit Office’s report on the Condition of School Buildings has raised many questions, namely durability and maintainability. I genuinely believe that modern methods of construction have a place within the built environment; however, we must ensure that any construction can demonstrate its performance and maintain that for a long period of time. That’s not to say a structure can be left unmaintained – it appears to me that as an industry, we work hard to present a building at its completion in a compliant form – but then there seems to be limited budgets to support its ongoing maintenance.

Built Environment LIVE takes place on 5-6 December 2023 at ExCeL London. CABE is delighted to be co-locating with CIBSE’s Build2Perform, collaborating to create ‘Building Performance Week’. This is a free event and I would encourage you to attend as the agenda is diverse, with an excellent range of speakers and exhibitors (bit.ly/CABE_LIVE).

Myself, CABE Chief Executive Dr Gavin Dunn, and my colleague Alex Taylor, Technical Specialist at NHBC, climbed the Three Peaks for charity in September. This was a difficult and challenging few days, but well worth it.

We have raised a fantastic £8,000 for Crisis. Crisis is the UK’s national charity for people experiencing homelessness. Their extensive work sees them offer year-round education, employment, housing and wellbeing services to people who are homeless or at risk of being made homeless. I wish to thank everyone who has supported us with donations and support.

Our JustGiving page is still open if you would like to make a donation. Any donation would be greatly appreciated (bit.ly/JustGiving_CABE).

Image credit | Sam Kerr