Exploring CABE: Upholding Excellence in Building Engineering

Chartered Association of Building Engineers, or CABE, is a member-focused, non-profit organisation, with a clear mission to share knowledge, raise standards and develop professionals.

Founded in 1925 as the Incorporated Association of Architects and Surveyors and granted a Royal Charter in July 2013, we are proud to be rapidly approaching our centenary year in 2025.

Our members work across the life-cycle of the built environment, with 18% of the current demographic offering services within building control. As readers will know, CABE offers one of only three schemes currently approved by the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) to certify individuals for Building Inspector registration, as required under the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA) – the CABE Building Inspector Competence Assessment Scheme (CBICAS). https://cbuilde.com/CBICAS_Docs

The initial wave of registration deadlines may be over as 2024 draws to a close, but providing evidence of competence for assessment, and how best to do so, remains one of the leading topics being debated across our industry. Attaining registration is not the end of the story for Registered Building Inspectors (RBIs) but there is new uncertainty regarding next steps, exacerbated by the recommendations stemming from the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 Report and no clear-cut response on that coming from government until at least spring 2025.

As a membership body, CABE’s duty is to provide our members with as much support as possible during times of uncertainty, and the issue of evidencing competence runs through the Executive Team’s three-year strategy. CABE CEO Richard Harral currently sits as an independent member of the Industry Competence Committee (ICC), formed under the BSA to facilitate the improvement of competence within the built environment. The work of the ICC parallels CABE’s own work in formulating understanding of two key concepts enshrined in the Building Safety Act and Building Regulations – individual competence and organisational capability. CABE continues to support the development of effective systems built around these concepts, which deliver on five basic objectives, specifically: establishing measurable standards of competence; offering robust forms of assessment; identifying good practice in lifelong learning and professional development; providing effective management procedures to ensure competent people are allocated to tasks, roles or activities; and systems of independent oversight to avoid bias.

CABE’s own system has been introduced to address these five pillars of competence. Launched in October 2024, the CABE Competency Management System (CMS) exists to serve as a personal competency record for all members throughout their career. As put by Kirri Porter-White, Head of Competence and Learning at CABE: “In an industry where proving competence is so high on the agenda, CABE’s CMS has been introduced to support individual self-assessment. We believe that by our members investing the time in assessing their own competence, we are giving them the tools needed to enable true self-reflection and to establish their own individual professional goals.”

The CMS is the cornerstone of CABE’s approach to evidencing competence. It holds the Association’s membership frameworks (including CABE’s version of the Building Inspector Competence Framework, the CBICoF) in an interactive interface, allowing members to delve into the competencies expected at each membership grade and career level. Essentially, information on how a professional can develop and progress is kept simple and accessible within the system – like stepping stones to progression.

Members can set objectives to target gaps in their knowledge, build up a development plan to boost their skill set, and have access to a customised, ever-increasing learning resources library aimed at keeping CPD reflective, to best suit the individual’s needs.

Primarily aimed at individuals, the CMS also offers CABE’s Premium Company Partners an organisation portal, allowing the potential for line managers to have an overview of their employee’s development needs and organisation-wide requirements. CABE offers a subscriber option for employers with staff who are not CABE members but who wish to use the CMS as a holistic management and development tool.

Gary Cass FCABE, CEO at Hertfordshire Building Control, commented: "From a business and individual perspective, we found the CMS intuitive. It is a fantastic tool for supporting individual development whilst meeting CABE competency standards as team members work towards new or upgraded membership. For our organisation, it will also allow us to collate data as to where people sit in respect of their Registered Building Inspector competence, whilst demonstrating to auditors that 'people development' isn't just a soundbite."

Feedback on the CMS to date has been extremely encouraging and we will continue to develop it as a member benefit wherever possible. It is testament to CABE’s determination to guide members in their development journey when the wider landscape is challenging and as we all, as a professional collective, await navigation from government in 2025. 

CABE is a unifying voice within the construction sector. To find out more about us and what we can offer to new members, visit www.cbuilde.com/cabe_hub