CIOB Quality Guide sets standards

CIOB Quality Guide to raise standards across industry

New guide sets quality expectations for all parties on construction projects

Everyone involved in a construction

project should be intolerant of poor quality. That’s one of the key messages to come out of the CIOB Quality Guide, published by the Chartered Institute of Building last month.

The guide sets out best practice for construction quality management, building upon a number of initiatives in both construction and other industries and the BS EN ISO 9000 family of quality management standards.

It explains how quality management can be integrated into company policy and the difference between quality control and quality assurance.

“I encourage everyone who works in our industry, from clients to designers, from contractors to supply chain partners to embrace the guide” Mark Beard, CIOB

The document also offers guidance on the role of the quality manager and clerk of works, the basics of construction quality management, and the actions needed to achieve it.

Split into several key sections, the guide puts quality management into context, sets out the basics of quality management systems, and establishes the principles of good practice when it comes to quality management standards, stressing the importance of ISO standards.

Paul Nash, chair of the CIOB’s Quality Implementation Group, said: “By focusing on quality during the site production and assembly stage of a project, this guide aims to raise

CIOB launches fire safety in construction certificate

New course for construction managers starts on 17 February

The CIOB is set to launch a new Certificate in Fire Safety for Construction, due to begin on 17 February 2021.

The course follows the recommendations in Dame Judith Hackitt’s Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety, which outlined the improvements that the sector should make to prevent incidents such as the Grenfell Tower fire from reoccurring in the future.

It is aimed at improving fire safety awareness for managers in the construction industry and for those who are faced with managing fire safety in the workplace.

The course looks at current and future legislation, building design and building construction, fire risk assessments, fire science and human behaviour, and how to manage and implement fire safety systems.

the bar for improving quality on site. The report on the Edinburgh Schools [wall collapse] and the evidence from the Grenfell Inquiry underline why this guide is needed.

“Along with the Code of Quality Management published last year, the guide is part of the CIOB’s ongoing commitment to raising standards and promoting best practice in quality management and building safety in our industry.”

CIOB president Mark Beard said: “I encourage everyone who works in our industry, from clients to designers, from contractors to supply chain partners to embrace the guide and use it as a tool to improve quality across all their projects.

“Construction has a mixed profile with the wider public and I believe the best way for us to attract the next generation of school leavers to our industry is to demonstrate consistently we are an industry that delivers fabulous new buildings to the highest possible standards.” ●

Institute offers membership support

The CIOB has frozen its membership prices at 2020 levels with no increase in subscription for members renewing for 2021.

If you are a CIOB member and are struggling financially to keep your CIOB membership, there is a covid-19 support fund that you can access as a concession on 2021 subscriptions.

So, if you have been furloughed, are on reduced pay or experiencing redundancy, log into the members’ area of www.ciob.org or call +44 (0) 1344 630 700.

The CIOB Benevolent Fund is also on hand to provide assistance when you need it. It can be contacted in confidence on +44 (0) 1344 630 780 or visit www.ciobbenevolentfund.org.uk.