News

A blueprint to improve competence for those working on higher-risk buildings and drive culture change has been set out by a cross-industry group representing more than 150 organisations in the fire and built environment industries.

Setting the Bar is the second and final report of the Competence Steering Group [CSG] and is an update of its Interim Report, Raising the Bar, published in August 2019. The work was initiated by the recommendations in Dame Judith Hackitt’s review Building a Safer Future.

It's been a strange and unsettling year and we're gutted that we haven't been able to hold the LABC Building Excellence Awards Regional and Grand Finals events in the offline world in 2020. However, we're very pleased to be able to announce the winners and highly commended from the Northern region awards, nonetheless.

In 2018 LABC took up Dame Judith Hackitt's challenge to prove the competence of public service building surveyors. Working with the Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE), LABC developed a competency assessment for professionals working on fire safety in higher risk buildings. And so far more than 550 LABC surveyors across England and Wales have been successfully accredited.

It's been a strange and unsettling year and we're gutted that we haven't been able to hold the LABC Building Excellence Awards Regional and Grand Finals events in the offline world in 2020. However, we're very pleased to be able to announce the winners and highly commended from the West Yorkshire region awards, nonetheless.

Articled updated 15/9/20 - first published in 2018

“Everyone should be able to have access to an education that suits them, but we know that for those that don’t choose to go to university, the routes into further technical and vocational training can be hard to navigate. That’s why we’re making the most significant reform to advanced technical education in 70 years to ensure young people have gold standard qualifications open to them whichever route they choose.” - Prime Minister, Theresa May. 

It's been a strange and unsettling year and we're gutted that we haven't been able to hold the LABC Building Excellence Awards Regional and Grand Finals events in the offline world in 2020. However, we're very pleased to be able to announce the winners and highly commended from the West of England region awards, nonetheless.

It's been a strange and unsettling year and we're gutted that we haven't been able to hold the LABC Building Excellence Awards Regional and Grand Finals events in the offline world in 2020. However, we're very pleased to be able to announce the winners and highly commended from the South East region awards, nonetheless.

It's been a strange and unsettling year and we're gutted that we haven't been able to hold the LABC Building Excellence Awards Regional and Grand Finals events in the offline world in 2020. However, we're very pleased to be able to announce the winners and highly commended from the East Anglia region awards, nonetheless.

It's been a strange and unsettling year and we're gutted that we haven't been able to hold the LABC Building Excellence Awards Regional and Grand Finals events in the offline world in 2020. However, we're very pleased to be able to announce the winners and highly commended from the South West region awards, nonetheless.

During times like these, it is essential for us to keep things running smoothly and local authority building control teams have been working hard to do just that. 

LABC ISO 9001 surveillance audits are now underway virtually, with four building control teams already audited.

The four teams are: