Practice
Competency
Statement
Including Higher-Risk Building Work
Aligned with PAS 8671:2022 — Principal Designer Competence Framework
A multi-disciplined practice, built around our clients.
This practice competency statement provides evidence of competence for work governed by The Building Safety Act 2022 — including work on higher-risk buildings (HRBs) — and demonstrates how specific individuals meet the requirements of PAS 8671:2022 for Principal Designers.
Diamond & Co are a multi-disciplined practice with extensive experience across all property sectors — supporting clients at every stage of a project, from initial brief through design, procurement, construction and handover. Our principle of understanding our clients and their needs lets us deliver pragmatic, innovative solutions which routinely exceed their expectations.
Our Services
Duty Holders under the Building Safety Act 2022.
Appointing the Building Regulations Principal Designer (BR PD) is now a key, legal necessity. Under Part 2A of The Building Regulations 2010, clients must appoint a designer with control over the design work as the principal designer wherever more than one contractor is, or is likely to be, involved — and do so before construction begins (or, for HRBs, before submitting the application to the Regulator).
Diamond & Co have the capability to deliver a turnkey BR PD service that plans, manages, monitors and coordinates the design to ensure the outcome complies with all relevant requirements of the Building Regulations. Our competency approach is aligned to PAS 8671:2022.
Our Lead PD Specialists are Registered HRB PD providers with APS (Association for Project Safety).
The Building Regulations Duty Holders
New Roles & Duties
Dutyholders must adopt new roles and duties around planning, managing and monitoring of work undertaken to ensure works comply with the relevant Building Regulations.
Strengthened Competency
Strengthened competency requirements — taking reasonable steps to satisfy themselves before appointing anyone to undertake work, ensuring they have the necessary competence to perform it.
A new culture of accountability.
Dutyholders are now required to issue compliance statements at completion of construction — confirming, in the case of the Client, that the work complies with the Building Regulations, and in the case of the Principal Designer, that they have fulfilled their duties under the Building Regulations.
Diamond & Co have the necessary Skills, Knowledge, Expertise and Behaviours to deliver all our multi-discipline services — both at individual and at organisational level.
We regularly act as a multi-discipline single point of contact team for clients — and have delivered a number of Gateway 2 Approvals for works to higher-risk buildings.
Skills · Knowledge · Experience · Behaviours
What is "competence" for Principal Designers?
Competence is defined as: where the person is an individual with the skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours necessary; and where the person is not an individual, the organisational capability, to carry out building and design work in accordance with all relevant requirements.
The minimum level is defined broadly in the BRAE Regulations (The Building Regulations etc. (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2023) and supported by PAS 8671 for Principal Designers.
PAS 8671 Acceptable Levels are governed by:
- The organisational capability of the Principal Designer.
- The specific demands of the project — the bigger and more complex, the greater the level of competence required.
Diamond & Co utilise PAS 8671 to inform and exhibit the experience of individuals and the wider organisation — providing confidence to clients that we are recording and assessing against established levels.
The minimum competency threshold.
Behavioural Competence
We act in accordance with our professional registration bodies, ethically and always contributing to safe outcomes. We deliver effective leadership, develop teamwork and communication, and take personal responsibility — respecting our duty of care to building occupants. We are clear with clients where we can or cannot take on appointments.
Legislative & Regulatory Framework
Diamond & Co keep abreast of all current and ongoing statutory obligations so our team meet their design-work obligations. We're aligned to professional CPD and our Principal Designers apply the legislative frameworks, identify information needs and ensure compliance.
Management of Design Work Compliance
We assist clients in agreeing a design process plan to achieve compliance. Our systems track, control changes, co-ordinate design and monitor progress. For HRBs we evaluate legislative implications and prepare report systems including safety occurrences and mandatory reporting.
Technical Framework for Compliance
Our chartered professionals are experienced in assessing building design principles and construction, co-ordinating design reviews and ensuring compliance. On HRB work we are aware of fire and structural safety issues and provide appropriate reporting systems.
Additional competency requirements for HRBs.
PAS 8671 sets out additional competencies that apply to Principal Designers working on Higher-Risk Buildings as defined in s 120D of the Building Act 1984 (as amended by the BSA) and the Higher-Risk Buildings (Description and Supplementary Provisions) Regulation 2023.
Legislative & Regulatory Framework
We understand the specific framework relating to designing HRBs and evaluate how this could affect other dutyholders' duties and compliance in the context of HRB projects.
Management of Design Work Compliance
We evaluate procedures related to working on HRBs, establish and maintain systems for inspecting and reporting on safety occurrences, and ensure responsible people are properly instructed on mandatory safety occurrence reporting for HRBs.
Technical Framework
Experienced in the enhanced HRB responsibilities — evaluating safety risks against mandatory reporting, evaluating prescribed procedures for design-work compliance, and using information management systems.
A higher bar for the Principal Designer.
What Regulation 11G requires
Regulation 11G sits inside Part 2A of the Building Regulations and sets a higher bar for the Principal Designer than for other designers. If you are an individual, you must have the SKEB to fulfil all Principal Designer duties for the project's design work.
If you act through an organisation, that organisation must have the organisational capability to fulfil the role, and must designate a competent individual to manage the Principal Designer functions on its behalf.
Regulation 11F
Sets the general competence requirement for anyone carrying out building or design work — individuals must have the necessary SKEB; organisations must have the right policies, procedures, systems and resources.
Competence is the test
Part 2A makes competence a key test. You must not accept a Principal Designer appointment if you don't satisfy both the general and specific competence requirements at the time of appointment.
Chartered. Accredited. Connected.
Across our multi-discipline teams we possess the necessary skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours individually and at organisational level. We maintain this through our various training and CPD requirements. Our team are members of the following organisations:
Almost 40 professionals. One shared knowledge base.
Diamond & Co are an established multi-disciplinary practice with significant experience delivering projects across both private and public sectors and across all built environment spaces — residential, commercial, retail, logistics, industrial, leisure and healthcare. Our professional team now extends to almost 40 people including our support services.
Our team includes accredited members of RICS, RIBA, IFE, ICAT, APS, APM and CABE — Project Managers, Technical Leads, Technical Directors, Detailing and Specification Experts. Our knowledge base covers multi-discipline solutions for clients across all RIBA Stages, with significant experience advising and designing solutions on HRBs over 18m.
Central Technical Library
Knowledge base, technical library and internal bulletins ensure cascading of knowledge and developments across the built environment.
CPD & Training Matrix
Central CPD and training matrix ensures ongoing gap analysis aligned to mandatory training requirements.
Industry Subscriptions
Autodesk, Revit, RICS, RIBA and NBS Chorus — alongside fluency in PAS 9980, BS 9999, BS 8414 and Approved Documents.
Gateway 2 Approvals delivered.
We have undertaken the full preparation, co-ordination and management of Gateway 2 Approvals via the Building Safety Regulator. Recent examples include:
Avante Court
Kingston Upon Thames
Internal & external remediation and passive fire works.
Royal Plaza
Sheffield
Internal & external remediation works.
Lune Square
Lancaster
Internal passive fire repairs and upgrading works.
Pimlico Apartments
London
Internal & external fire safety and remediation works.
Trencherfield Mill
Wigan
External cladding remediation via CSS Scheme.
Vie Buildings
Cambridge
External cladding remediation via CSS Scheme.
Our team also engages in information sharing and legislation development platforms, including those operated by Homes England and the Scottish Government — and are members of the Property Institute.
Ethical, transparent, accountable.
We operate the practice in a manner that demonstrates compliance with the behavioural requirements of PAS 8671. We are further bound by ethical and professional obligations through our experts' memberships of regulatory bodies — RICS, RIBA, IFE, CABE, IFSM, APS and others.
Our integrated business management systems ensure we apply appropriate due diligence not only to clients but also to suppliers and consultants. Our group policies ensure we are fully compliant in terms of Modern Slavery, Bribery and Anti-Money Laundering checks and provisions.
We have a fully developed in-house training and development programme — and a number of our chartered professionals remain involved in graduate training and assessment programmes such as the RICS APC.
Approved Accreditation Schemes
A signed commitment to competence.
"I confirm that this information is accurate and reflects the practice's current level of competence for higher-risk building work under the Building Safety Act 2022, aligned with PAS 8671:2022."
Jim Kerr
Dip BS · MRICS · C.Build E MCABE · CmAPS (PD CMD & HRB) · MAPM · TechIOSH
Director — Building Consultancy
29 April 2026