The Chartered Institute of Building - General - Construction Skills Certification Scheme

Date: 25 Apr 2006

The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) has continued its pursuit for new professional routes to Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) cards.

UK professional bodies, led by the CIOB and the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), have argued that recognition should be given to equivalent professional achievement. After two years of negotiation, the CIOB has been successful in getting the CSCS Board to approve a "professional" route to platinum site manager cards for CIOB members.

This has resulted in site managers who are MCIOB gaining CSCS cards by virtue of their CIOB membership, without having to gain a level 4 NVQ in Construction Site Management.

Last year saw CSCS approval for a professional route to cards for building maintenance and estates managers. In March of this year, a second professional route was approved - based on the level 4 NVQ in Construction Contracting Operations. This is a very broad NVQ with a number of specialist pathways, and will cover all those MCIOB practitioners working as estimators, buyers, planners, quantity surveyors and building surveyors.

Michael Brown CIOB deputy chief executive said, "These three routes aim to serve the major site occupations in which CIOB members work, and where they need their CSCS cards. The CSCS Board has rightly defended the high standards that the CSCS initiative has set, but their acknowledgement that MCIOB demonstrates an equivalent standard is good for everyone - good for CSCS, good for CIOB members, and good for the industry. These professional routes have consolidated the links between NVQ achievement and our own routes to professional qualification and have justified all the hard work that the CIOB has put into NVQ development over the last 15 years".

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