Guest blog: The Common Assessment Standard introduces Building Safety Pre-qualification Questions

Guest blog: The Common Assessment Standard introduces Building Safety Pre-qualification Questions

By Paul Reeve, Chair of the Build UK Common Assessment Standard Review Group, and former Director of CSR at leading engineering services body ECA

The latest update to the prequalification Common Assessment Standard (CAS) was published in July, including an entirely new section that will help to ensure suppliers can deliver building safety and quality.

The new Common Assessment Standard question set, issued in response to the Building Safety Act 2022 and its supporting legislation, highlights current – and widely applicable – legal duties on designers and contractors across construction and building maintenance. The response of suppliers to these new Common Assessment Standard questions will help procurers ensure that companies have the ‘organisational capability’ to fulfil their dutyholder roles.

What is the Common Assessment Standard?

The Common Assessment Standard is overseen by Build UK with support from the wider construction industry, clients and Build UK ‘Recognised Assessment Bodies’ (organisations that assess companies against the Common Assessment Standard).

Since its introduction in 2019, supplier engagement with the Common Assessment Standard has grown strongly. Today, more than 22,500 construction and other site services suppliers hold CAS certification, with the majority holding it through Constructionline’s Gold membership.

Many suppliers have benefitted from the ‘cross recognition’ of schemes afforded by the CAS, which allows them to reduce the number of construction prequalification questionnaires they have to fill in through the sharing of key supplier data between the Recognised Assessment Bodies.

Constructionline is one of five Build UK Recognised Assessment Bodies. A growing list of procurers in both the public and private sector now specify the Common Assessment Standard, and in spring 2024, Government procurement guidance PPN 03/24, stated that the CAS should be used for substantial public works contracts, broadening the scope for public sector procurement.

Building safety duties poorly understood

Developed in response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy, the Building Safety Act 2022 applies throughout building design, construction and maintenance, and mainly to buildings in England. Much of the legislation also goes beyond ensuring the safety of occupants in Higher Risk Buildings (HRBs) such as high-rise accommodation and hospitals. Yet despite its wide application across construction and maintenance, the broad implications of the Act and its supporting legislation are still poorly understood.

Clarity on dutyholder roles

In October 2023, legislation in support of the Act introduced extensive new dutyholder roles on those who design or carry out notifiable building work – along with significant extra duties for work on HRBs. While the ongoing client, industry and media focus on HRB safety is entirely understandable, it has tended to obscure these more general duties, which will have a much wider impact across construction.

In addition, it has not helped that these dutyholder roles (notably those covering Principal and other designers and contractors) appear in the complex and less than evocatively titled ‘Building Regulations etc. (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2023’. Considering the extensive building safety and quality implications of these dutyholder roles, the presentation of these regulations doesn’t encourage industry awareness. As a result, a less challenging description on what designers and contractors must do under the legislation was produced, which can be found here.

In addition to this description, the new set of ‘Building Safety’ questions introduced into the Common Assessment Standard also present the new dutyholder roles. However, the CAS may be much more impactful with buyers and suppliers since the duties now appear as part of prequalification supply chain assessment. Most of the new questions apply to those engaged in notifiable building work, while additional questions focus on the specific extra requirements for HRBs.

In outline, the Common Assessment Standard Building Safety section includes enquiries about suppliers’ arrangements to ensure the following for design and construction:

		Workers, including sub-contractors, have the necessary skills, experience, and behaviours to deliver compliance
		Work is properly planned, managed and monitored
		Choices and changes are not made at any stage that will lead to non-compliance
		Essential information is shared with workers, including sub-contractors, and others engaged in and around the work
		Effective communication and cooperation with other dutyholders

In addition, the accompanying ‘Quality’ section of the Common Assessment Standard makes extra enquiries about how suppliers will manage building product safety.

Currently, all the new Common Assessment Standard Building Safety questions are ‘advisory’ (irrespective of a supplier’s answers to this section, they can still obtain Common Assessment Standard certification, though procurers can see how they responded).

Earlier in 2024, Build UK’s Cross Industry Body concluded that even though the building safety dutyholder roles are already in force, many in the industry haven’t had enough practical experience of the changes yet to present documentary and other evidence of organisational capability. However, even though it is only advisory, the new CAS building safety section clearly shows suppliers what they have to do. This should encourage them to develop suitable building safety and quality management as soon as possible, not least because Build UK aims to review whether these questions will become ‘mandatory’ in early 2025. Should this happen, which seems likely since they reflect current legal duties, then suppliers will need to actively engage with these Building Safety questions to achieve CAS certification.

Delivering building safety assurance

Constructionline and the other Build UK Recognised Assessment Bodies continue to work with Build UK to provide the building safety and wider prequalification assurance needed by the industry and its clients. For example, suppliers who pass Constructionline’s Gold prequalification assessment automatically achieve CAS certification and from now – depending on their current capabilities – they can engage with the opportunity, or challenge, presented by the CAS Building Safety questions to show procurers they have the necessary organisational capability.

The Common Assessment Standard’s new Building Safety questions show what suppliers need to do – at prequalification – to assure procurers they can deliver the organisational capability to comply with building safety legislation and standards. This may include any future work involving HRBs, where there are extra duties above the general requirements. Being able to provide this type of assurance will be vital for suppliers and procurers, noting that any criminal and civil liability resulting from non-compliant design and installation could be incorporated into a building for decades before it presents itself.

Additionally, Constructionline customers will soon have the option to respond to extra questions which align very closely with BS 8670-1:2024. This is a new Code that includes core criteria for the knowledge, skills, experience and behaviours required to comply with the Building Safety regime. At no extra charge, customers who answer these questions can provide additional assurance to any procurer who looks for compliance with this recently adopted Code.

Laying a foundation for safer buildings

The latest update to Common Assessment Standard provides a widely recognised and consistent set of supplier prequalification questions. Overall, these include industry-standard questions covering key assurance topics such as Financial, Safety, Quality, Environment, Information Security and now, Building Safety.

There’s little doubt that the latest version of the Common Assessment Standard will not only help to bring the dutyholder roles introduced by the Building Safety Act and its supporting legislation to the fore, but also help the construction supply chain to understand what’s needed to manage risks and ensure future building safety.

Find out more about the definitive and up to date version of the CAS question set, including the new Building Safety questions at: Common-Assessment-Standard-Question-Set-Version-4.0.pdf (builduk.org)

Paul Reeve is Chair of the Build UK Common Assessment Standard Review Group, and former Director of CSR at leading engineering services body ECA.

How Constructionline helps suppliers meet the Common Assessment Standard

Since its introduction in 2019, supplier engagement with the Common Assessment Standard has grown strongly. Today, more than 22,500 construction and other site services suppliers hold CAS certification, with more than 80% holding it through Constructionline’s Gold and Platinum memberships. Accessible through their BSA Assessments, these help suppliers quickly and easily demonstrate their organisational competence upstream to construction buyers. Combined with the Common Assessment Standard, Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSIP) and Social Value question sets, Constructionline’s memberships help suppliers demonstrate their competence and boost their chances to win more business.