THE NEW BUILDING CONTROL PROFESSION– Who is training the next generation of Registered Building Inspectors?

What’s your role at SOCOTEC?

I'm the Technical Training Director for the Building and Real Estate division of SOCOTEC. I am also a Registered Building Inspector at Class 3H/4.

It's my role to recruit, develop and bring on all of our technical staff. So, with apprentices and trainees, I develop their training programme, help them to develop as individuals, and take them on their journey to becoming a Registered Building Inspector.

I'm also responsible for the ongoing training and upskilling of our existing RBIs if they want to achieve registration at a higher Class level.

At SOCOTEC Building Control, we're very keen to bring in as many people as we can to address the shortfall of Building Control professionals, because at the end of the day, we need to support the construction industry and help get compliant buildings built.

What are the main routes to becoming an RBI?

Some candidates will come in straight from A-levels, with minimal construction industry experience, and they will start on a degree apprenticeship, where they will study for around four and a half years with either Wolverhampton University or the University of the Built Environment (UBE Reading).

We're able to provide lots of support for those that are wanting to go on their journey with us, we can help with choosing the university and assisting with the administrative side. Enrolling on the degree apprenticeship and understanding the logistics and the requirements of it all can sometimes be quite challenging.

We’ll also take on graduates and people who have already worked in construction, maybe bricklaying or joinery, who want to come in off the tools. They’ll usually have some technical knowledge, but the regulatory side will be unfamiliar to them. Whatever their background, we’ll provide tailored support to get people on the right route to becoming a Registered Building Inspector.

What support do you offer?

Crucially, we then support everyone we take on with our internal training programme. 

It runs over a rolling three-year period and within this we cover all the technical topics that relate to doing the actual job of Building Control. It looks at legislative aspects, the code of conduct and professional ethics, health and safety – basically anything and everything that comes as part of the job.

This three-year program is delivered in 7-hour block CPD sessions on a variety of topics, which occur four times per year.

Some training is delivered through webinars to the whole company, and other CPD training sessions are run face to face depending upon the topic area. Whichever route people choose to go down towards registration, we offer support all the way, right through to mock interviews.

Will they be working on the job as well?

Absolutely, 20% of the apprenticeship is off-the-job learning, one day of study per week, and the other four days they are in the office, shadowing Building Inspectors, going out on site, plan checking, learning and training on the job in the real office environment.

What about existing RBIs?

A significant amount of training and CPD, is available to every member of staff. Recently, we ran a session on upskilling staff from 3G to 3H, looking at the technical knowledge needed, bridging that gap and enabling people to move up the ladder.

Because of the size of SOCOTEC, we have lots of registered professionals. We are therefore able to connect anybody that's on a learning journey to somebody with the correct skill set who can support them.

What sort of person might be interested in a career as a Registered Building Inspector?

It’s an extremely varied job. It involves going out on site, meeting people, looking at works as they progress, dealing with clients, dealing with contractors - so you’ll need people skills.  As well as the outdoor perspective, you’ve got plan checking within the office environment, so there’s a combination of both.