Competence in the Post-Grenfell World

The Grenfell Tower fire and the subsequent Inquiry exposed a systemic problem in the UK construction industry: a culture in which formal qualifications were often treated as sufficient evidence of competence, without adequate scrutiny of whether individuals actually had the knowledge, skills and experience to do their jobs safely. The Building Safety Act 2022 and the competence framework reforms that have followed are designed to address this problem.

What Is Competence?

Competence, in the building safety context, means having the right combination of knowledge, skills, experience and behaviours to carry out a specific role safely and effectively. It is more than holding a qualification — a person might hold a relevant qualification but lack the specific experience needed to apply it competently to a particular type of project.

The Building Safety Regulator's competence requirements for dutyholders and building safety managers reflect this broader understanding of competence. It is not enough to be a chartered engineer — you must be a chartered engineer with the specific competence relevant to the type of building and work in question.

Competence in Fire Engineering

For fire engineers, competence encompasses several dimensions:

• Technical knowledge: Understanding of fire dynamics, structural behaviour in fire, means of escape design, suppression systems, smoke control and the applicable British Standards and Approved Documents
• Project experience: Direct experience of working on similar building types at the relevant scale and complexity
• Regulatory knowledge: Understanding of the Building Safety Act, the gateway process, BSR requirements and the evolving regulatory landscape
• Judgement: The ability to apply technical knowledge and experience to novel situations, make defensible engineering decisions, and communicate them clearly

Checking Competence When Appointing Consultants

For developers, building owners and architects appointing fire safety consultants, checking competence means going beyond verifying that a consultant holds a relevant qualification. It means asking:

• Does the lead engineer hold Chartered Engineer (CEng) status?
• What is their specific experience of the type of project you are developing?
• Have they worked on projects at this scale and complexity before?
• Do they have direct experience of Gateway 2 submissions, building safety cases, or PAS 9980 assessments — depending on what you need?
• Can they provide references from similar projects?