The BSCF’s VISION is to give confidence in those professionally responsible for a healthy and safe built environment. Our MISSION is to lead cultural change in the construction industry by instilling ethics and elevating competence and standards in those responsible for the regulation, design, construction and maintenance of our built environment.
The Building Safety Competency Foundation (BSCF) is a Community Interest Company, set up by LABC as a public interest organisation to provide a range of services to the construction industry. Working for the public benefit, public safety and consumer protection, the creation of the BSCF enables investment in the competence, ethics and culture of the wider construction industry.
Created in 2021; It is a new vehicle to deliver competence validation for those responsible for the regulation, design, construction and maintenance of our built environment.
The Foundation provides independence and credibility through a governance model which includes public service building control but with the addition of Independent Directors to ensure transparency and impartiality.
The Building Safety Competence Foundation Core Activities
Dame Judith Hackitt’s Final Report recommended that all those working in the construction industry must prove their competence. In 2018 LABC took up Dame Judith’s challenge to prove the competency of building control professionals. Working with the Institution of Fire Engineers, LABC developed a competency validation assessment for Building Regulation Fire Safety in Higher Risk Buildings.
To date over 450 experienced surveyors have been accredited. This scheme of validation has been extended to cover all levels of building control surveyors and is open to both public and private sector practitioners.
To make sure there is truly robust and impartial validation of building control professionals’ competence this scheme has been moved out of the compass of LABC and into the BSCF. It will continue to be developed under UKAS and ISO/IEC 17024 (conformity assessment for bodies operating the certification of persons).
The following competence validation schemes are now in place:
- Domestic building control surveyor
- General building control surveyor
- Specialist building control surveyor
The competence validation process is scrutinised by the Independent Certification Committee and for each scheme there is a separate Scheme Committee made up of pan-industry subject matter experts.
The certification process rigorously tests to see if the individual can prove their competence to perform the tasks associated with a specific technical specialism. Certification lasts for four years and includes a combination of:
- Passing examinations / assessments / interviews.
- Completing a portfolio of recent relevant experience performed to predefined levels of performance and standards.