Building Standards

Minister for Housing recognises excellence in Building Standards across Scotland

December 11, 2024 by Simon Moore No Comments | Category Building Standards

The Scottish Government hosted the third national Building Standards Leaders Forum at COSLA Conference Centre, Edinburgh on 26 November 2024. The chair, Stephen Garvin, Head of Building Standards, welcomed leaders from across Scotland to their first in-person event. Attendees heard from guest speakers from the Building Standards Division, University of Edinburgh and the Scottish Building Standards Hub.

The Minister for Housing, Paul McLennan MSP presented four National Excellence Awards at the event. The first three awards recognised strong performance across all seven national Key Performance Outcomes during the last annual reporting period 2023-24. Council representatives from Aberdeenshire, Argyll & Bute and Falkirk, were worthy winners of the national performance awards, highlighting their dedication and continued investment to deliver high quality building standards services across Scotland.

The Minister for Housing also introduced a new National Excellence Award for community safety in building standards, acknowledging the significant work building standards teams undertake to promote public safety in the community. North Lanarkshire Council were presented as winners in the community safety category, with their nomination for their “Sports Stadia and Community Safety Engagement Strategy” a worthwhile initiative, demonstrating how their team excelled in taking an exemplar approach to protecting public safety.

Professor Sean Smith from the University of Edinburgh attended as a guest speaker, delivering a thought-provoking presentation on infrastructure, housing and net zero. Professor Smith provided a detailed overview of some of the challenges affecting the industry, including net zero for high density buildings, emerging retrofit technologies and applied research. He outlined how opportunities for co-creation and partnership innovations can support industry responses to such challenges. Lastly, he shared some of the exciting projects being taken forward at the new location for the Edinburgh Futures Institute.

Forum members took full advantage of the opportunity to engage in discussions on a variety of national issues, exchanging valuable insights and expertise across multiple breakout sessions. A highlight of the event was the presentation on the shaping of a new national leadership development programme, funded by Scottish Government and set to be delivered over the next two years by the Scottish Building Standards Hub. Russell Watson, Learning & Development Manager at the Hub, provided an overview of the proposed programme, which will include the creation of manager toolkits, online modules, and in-person events. These resources will be specifically designed for the building standards profession, catering to both current and aspiring leaders. The programme will support leadership development at all stages of the career journey, while fostering valuable networking opportunities.

The Building Standards Division shared updates on their ongoing efforts to establish an independent competency assessment model for the building standards profession. This initiative is expected to be rolled out using an iterative approach, with the goal of supporting a smooth transition by mid-2026. Additionally, further enhancements to the national Operating and Performance Frameworks are underway, in partnership with LABSS, with the intention to publish new frameworks by April 2026.

Members of the Leaders Forum actively participated in discussions directed toward strengthening compliance, with a particular focus on recommendations from the Grenfell Inquiry. Presentations also highlighted key initiatives, including updates from the Building Standards Futures Board and the recent increase in building warrant fees, aimed at generating additional resources for local authorities to support the broader Compliance Plan agenda.

It was widely acknowledged that members of the Building Standards Leaders Forum, along with experts across the profession, are instrumental in driving ongoing improvements to create stronger and more resilient building standards services for the people of Scotland. The Leaders Forum will continue their quarterly virtual meetings and attendees are already looking forward to next year’s National Excellence Awards, where further achievements will be celebrated.

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