Architects in England are one year on from the industry finally receiving much-awaited secondary legislation that ushered in an updated Building Regulation regimes.
For this article we’re going to concentrate on one of the new dutyholder roles, the Building Regulations Principal Designer (BRPD), and how an architect would operate and, crucially, demonstrate competence to carry out the role.
On the back of the release of the secondary legislation, RIBA created a three-stage assessment process for members wishing to join its ‘General’ or ‘Higher-Risk Building’ attainment levels within the Principal Designer Register (with a later inclusion of a ‘Domestic’ category for domestic clients only, which is a two-stage process), which launched in Autumn 2023: a knowledge test, a written submission of knowledge, skills, experience, behaviours and an interview.
There were originally two competency levels, general and higher-risk buildings, with a third added in May for architects working solely on residential projects for domestic clients.
A year into the new regime, RIBA’s Principal Designer Register is still seen as great way to evidence the competence needed to navigate the building safety landscape.
What does the new regulatory regime contain?
Ben Oram, Head of Technical at Buckley Gray Yeoman and Chair of the Architectural Technical Lead Group (ATLG), the forum for architectural practice technical leads, believes PAS 8671 is overly complicated to the point of being intimidating to many practices. now looking to demonstrate their competence for the BRPD role.
PAS 8671 is a standard framework that sets the thresholds of competence of individuals operating as BRPDs, and is only designed to set a threshold of competence and is not a way of measuring competence in itself, Ben says.
Individual designers are advised to consider obtaining accredited independent assessment and certification that is aligned to this PAS to verify their competence.
“I think RIBA managed to interpret the extremely complex and involved document and has produced the best assessment process so far,” he continues. “In the ATLG, members have been calling for industry standardised ways to demonstrate competence. Members now have a recognised route to demonstrate their competence and practices do not have to worry about developing and implementing their own competency standards based on the complex PAS."
How has one architecture practice dealt with the legislation?
The Building Regulation amendments stemming from the Building Safety Act requires a competent BRPD to be appointed on any project that is notifiable under Building Regulations, with the BRPD coordinating matters relating to design work. This is so that all reasonable steps are taken to ensure that the design is in compliance with Regulations.
When the enabling legislation arrived last Summer, Buckley Gray Yeoman was in the process of reviewing its internal processes. The Directors took the view that the practice was fulfilling many of the BRPD duties already as part of the Lead Designer role, and so having it formalised and accepting appointments as the BRPD was a natural step forward for the practice.
Ben recalls that for him the assessment process for RIBA's Principal Designer Register felt similar to his ARB Part 3 exam. Subsequently felt he had effectively been undertaking much of the BRPD duties already. The launch of the secondary legislation prompted reflection and a re-examination of approaches at Buckley Gray Yeoman to meet the amended Building Regulations.
“The RIBA BRPD Assessment highlighted some holes in my knowledge - things that might have been missing in my CPD - and so I was prompted to refresh my knowledge in these areas,” he says. “I don’t think anyone should be scared of the process. It should be embraced as an opportunity.”
He argues “The BRPD needs to be fully engaged with the rest of the design team and from a competence point of view must at least understand what the scope and key requirements driving each designer's work, which fits neatly alongside that of the Lead Designer”
The 100-strong practice, which works in a variety of sectors including Higher-Risk Buildings, took the decision that it would only accept the BRPD role where they were also Architect.
This means that once a Contractor is appointed to a project and becomes involved in design work, the practice will relinquish the BRPD role and will expect the contractor to take it on.
“Because of the statutory nature of the BRPD’s duties, our position is that we do not want the BRPD to become involved in any conflict between the Designer and Contractor when the Contractor is in control of the design, so we will cease our appointment for the BRPD role once a Contractor is involved.”
What’s next for practices getting to grips with the Building Regulations?
Ben suspects that the industry is going to take a long time to fully adjust to the BRPD regime, a view he says is shared by other members of the Architectural Technical Lead Group. This is particularly so for the Client side.
“The feedback I’ve had from the ATLG and other technical groups is that many Clients and Contractors are not completely up to date with the new legislation and client statutory duties,” he says. “They know the Building Safety Act happened and they know that there has to be a BRPD, but they are not aware of their own duties, which include taking reasonable steps to assess the competence of the people they appoint to a project.”
He points to a lag in understanding from some Clients seeking to discharge their duties and gives the example of Pre-Qualification Questionnaires that look for competence in inappropriate ways, such as demonstrating designer competence under BS 8670, which is the framework for competence frameworks, or demonstrating competence of the practices Designer dutyholders under PAS 8671 when this actually applies to the competence of the an individual Building Regulations Principal Designer.
He says that he spends a lot of time briefing Clients on the new regime. The RIBA Register, of course, now takes care of the practice’s BRPD competency questions.
Looking ahead, Ben suggests that there is a need for a lot more industry adjustment Higher-Risk Buildings. The expectation is that contractors and subcontractors must have earlier involvement in packages of design work in order to develop the technical detail needed for the gateway submission to the new Building Safety Regulator and sufficient time allowed in programmes for the detail required at Gateways 2 and 3.
Ben also predicts that for Higher-Risk Buildings, Contractors will begin to be appointed at the start of RIBA Stage 4, technical design, at which point he would expect to bow out as BRPD if the project was procured under a design and build contract (noting that practices are all approaching this differently).
Apply to join RIBA’s Principal Designer Register.
Thanks to Ben Oram, Head of Technical at Buckley Gray Yeoman.
Text by Neal Morris. This is a professional feature edited by the RIBA Practice team. Send us your feedback and ideas.
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