FMB: 'Green Deal installers need to be able to self-certify work'

Building contractors working under the Green Deal should be allowed to self-certify that their work meets building regulations to keep costs down, the Federation of Master Builders and CITB-Construction Skills have said.

This week, the British Institute for Standards closed its consultation on the proposed publically available standard (PAS) for Green Deal installers.

The PAS lays out what installers must do to ensure their work complies with the requirements of the Green Deal.

In a joint response to the consultation on PAS 2030, the FMB and CITIB-Construction Skills said it needed to be aligned with competent person schemes and National Occupation Standards to keep costs to a minimum. Under the current draft, installers would have to go through two assessment processes in order to belong to both the Green Deal and a competenet person scheme.

Brian Berry, director of external affairs at the FMB, said: “The FMB is very keen to ensure that there is transparency and openness in the development of qualifications that installers have to comply with for Green Deal work… the PAS 2030 needs to be amended accordingly to ensure that this common approach is adopted across all sectors in the construction industry.”

The FMB argues that alignment would also mean that the assessment to accredit installers for both PAS work and work conducted under a competent persons scheme could be streamlined, saving on training costs.

Plus, being able to self-certify work through the competent person schemes could save installers around £100 per-job because the work could be signed off under the scheme avoiding heavy local authority inspection fees.

The FMB also argues that keeping costs down would allow more firms to participate in the Green Deal.

Mark Farrar, chief executive of CITB-ConstructionSkills, said: “The Green Deal may create an estimated 100,000 jobs by 2020 – and by this point the government aims to have retrofitted 14m homes with energy saving equipment, so it is vital construction firms can take full advantage of this scheme.”