CDM2007.org Competence Registry© 2010 

now live on the platform for use by all registered users throughout the construction industry from 19th April 2010 to keep their records …

The latest upgrade on the CDM2007.org platform looks at what is meant by the concept of ‘being professionally competent’ in CDM …

When the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations [CDM] was first introduced in 1994 the construction industry laid down the start of the process of setting the criteria based upon research around at that time and the efforts of several professional groups to create their own niche markets and memberships etc. … then, in 2007 when the current CDM Regulations were enacted creating the new role of the CDM Coordinator [CDM-C] in the construction team the same original criteria was brought forward into the Approved Code of Practice where it exist as Appendix 4.

So, the burning question … is the CDM-C role an individual or simply an added competency that existing professionals operating in the industry should possess?

Indeed, it can be argued that the original creation back in 1995 of the Planning Supervisor as a new stand-alone professional may have had a detrimental effect upon the industry because it may have allowed a complacent attitude to develop in the rest of the professionals who simply left CDM to be dealt with by the new professional?   Maybe that early fundamental detriment persists in the current way that CDM-Cs exist as stand-alone duty holders?

There have been a number of small research exercises undertaken by small teams of academics looking at different ‘mental models’ used by professionals to define what is meant by the concept of ‘being professionally competent’.   An important key finding provided evidence that no single, uniform definition of ‘being professionally competent’ actually exists.   

The diverse professional limbs of industry place a different weighting on different elements ~ some make technical excellence pre-eminent and business issues of minor importance, whereas others focus upon the ability to understand the business context within which property or construction decisions are made and that ability becomes pre-eminent.  However, all seem to recognise that at the core of being regarded as ‘professionally competent’ is to have an awareness of ethics and a practical ability to deal with ethical dilemmas irrespective of whether they arise in a technical or business context.

Based on the various pieces of academic research a model can be considered based on a four component descriptor of the notion of being ‘professionally competent’ which combines:

·        Knowledge Competence - defined as ‘the possession of appropriate technical and/or business knowledge’.

·        Cognitive/Problem Solving Competence - defined as ‘the ability to solve using high level thinking skills technical and/or business related problems effectively to produce specific outcomes’ 

·        Business Competence - defined as ‘the ability to understand the wider business context within which the candidate is practising and to manage client expectations in a pro-active manner’, and

·        Ethical/Personal Behavioural Competence (which is core to the previous three areas) - defined as the possession of appropriate personal and professional values and behaviours and the ability to make sound judgements when confronted with ethical dilemmas’

CDM2007.org have created a unique central hub on the internet for the whole of the professionals working within the construction industry to use to record their individual leaning paths, achievements, capabilities, experience, and competences. …

   then add into that a unique system of robust third-party assessment that verifies the claimed records and the development team believe they have thus created another unique facility for the professional in the industry …

… not content with just that, this new system completely records and tracks an individual’s ongoing CPD too

The CDM2007.org Competence Registry © 2010 meets the criteria in Appendix 4 of the ACoP and is unique that it provides proof of ‘Evidence of a clear commitment to training and the Continuing Professional development of staff’.

The CDM2007.org Competence Registry © 2010 is live on the platform for use by all registered users from 19th April 2010 to keep their records …

Ed.