New Cladding Competency Accreditation to be Based on NFRC’s RoofCERT

A NEW THIRD-PARTY certification scheme for cladding installers is reportedly in development at the National Federation of Roofing Contractors (NFRC), to be based on RoofCERT.

This is according to a report on the Construction Manager website which says the certification scheme will be based on the roofer accreditation scheme, RoofCERT.

The NFRC is seemingly working on the CITB-funded project to define competency standards for rainscreen cladding installation.

James Talman CEO NFRC

NFRC CEO James Talman is reported as saying “Our scheme would initially involve assessment of operatives, whereby they would come to a test centre and work on a rainscreen cladding section so we can see how competent they are.”

RoofCERT Model

As in the RoofCERT accreditation model, cladding candidates would demonstrate their competency through a written test, and their practical skills competency on a one-day assessment.

However, RoofCERT’s one-day assessment currently being trialled has been criticised as too limited to adequately examine roofer’s competence.

The one-day assessments allow only enough time for roofers to show their competence in a single discipline, such as tiling. Most roofer’s work on several types of roofing, including other disciplines such as slating. The NVQ qualification is for roof slating and tiling.

Construction Manager reports that James Talman believes the RoofCERT model could be a template for accreditation of other specialist construction operatives.

Construction Manager inaccurately reported that 800 operatives are now RoofCERT accredited. It repeats the misleading figure in its July magazine edition.

The true number of RoofCERT operatives accredited is 120.

The RoofCERT scheme launched in 2018 with CITB funding of £3 million. The target was to accredit 5,000 RoofCERT operatives by 2021.

The target has now been reduced to 2,000 and CITB funding has apparently been extended for an unknown period.

Lost Trust

Construction Manager reports that the RoofCERT scheme has been praised by the chair of one of the 11 groups set up following the Hackitt Review to address the loss of trust in the construction industry following the Grenfell tragedy and to develop industry-wide competency standards.

Working group 2, which the NFRC sits on, is chaired by Build UK and Stanhope’s project executive for offices, Nick Jarman, the magazine reports, citing Jarman’s comment: “The working group obviously welcomes a collaborative approach in improving installer competence which the NFRC is clearly focused on.”

The report in Construction Manager July edition can be viewed here on page 8 and page 30. Construction Manager is published by the Chartered Institute of Building.

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