In the wake of the Grenfell disaster, professional and occupational competence is undergoing deep reform. Assumed expertise is being swept away in favour of demonstrable competence; meaning how we develop our skills and how these are validated to clients, employers, regulators and other authorities is to be challenged. The promise of the coming changes is to fix longstanding problems that we see with training systems and how competence is recognised for our sector.

What does this mean for your role, how is it being shaped and what does the future look like for those active in the geotechnical and geoenvironmental industry? These are the questions we’ll be answering while we take a deep dive into

• The legislative and governmental drivers behind the change
• Introducing the Super Sector Programme at the forefront of these reforms
• What are the issues and complexities we’re addressing
• How are these likely to affect your occupation
• When will all this happen?

This two-hour long webinar will be Chaired by Julian Lovell (AGS Executive member and AGS Lead for Occupational Competence Frameworks), and will include presentations from Faye Burnett (Super Sector Programme Director), Jim De Waele (Adjudicator at Coudrier) and Ciaran Jennings (Ground Forum Project Lead).

Join us as we examine what the evolving competence landscape means for professionals in the geotechnical and geoenvironmental industry, including how roles may be impacted and what to expect in the future.

TICKETS

This webinar is free for Members to attend and £50 (ex VAT) for Non-Members.

N.B. in order to obtain the AGS Member rate, please add the delegate place to your basket, select ‘proceed to checkout’, enter delegate details and under ‘billing details’, select your company from the AGS member company dropdown list. The rate at the end of the checkout page will then update to the AGS member rate.

PRESENTATIONS

Super Sectors – Trades & Installers and the Journey to Competence

How We Are Approaching Individual Competence in Ground Engineering

Presented by Ciaran Jennings, Project Lead at the Ground Forum

Ground engineering is a complex landscape of competencies, occupations and validation processes. In this presentation, Ciaran will set out the high level approach the Ground Forum are taking to defining competence for our industry. He will touch on some of the issues we need to explore and opportunities we can seize to move the industry forward such as: What challenges can we expect for those working in the industry right now? what do we need to champion that works well and what might need reform? and critically, how do we fix the routes to becoming competent to ensure the quality of our industry for the future?

Proving Competence Across the Ground Engineering Sector

Presented by Julian Lovell, Managing Director at Equipe Group and AGS Lead on Occupational Competence 

This presentation will discuss the legal implications of proof of competence for ground engineering personnel under the Building Safety Act. It will discuss the industry challenges and benefits of developing competence frameworks across the ground engineering sector and will provide an oversight of the occupations being considered and their routes to competence. The talk will also discuss the skills gaps already identified and initiatives which are currently being delivered or need to be developed to plug these to ensure we have a sufficient talent pool for the future.

Developing Ground Engineers – Pure Genius

Presented by Jim De Waele, Adjudicator at Coudrier 

Our ability to train ground engineers is under threat.  University courses are closing and it is increasingly difficult to attract people into our sector.  We need to build a new approach to training and development, one that can be delivered with consistent results and is accessible across the country.  Our universities need to rise to the challenge, and crucially industry needs to fully engage before it is too late.  To solve the problem modular professional development has been designed, that will permit a flexible approach to learning.  Importantly, this approach is accredited, meaning that it can lead to post graduate qualifications over time.  It is also recognised by our major institutions. Like the ICE and GSL.  If that sounds like genius, it is because it is!

PLEASE NOTE

While our speakers are experts in their fields, they are not professional presenters by trade. As a result, they may not always exhibit the speaking confidence of professional presenters, and their slides might not be as refined.

Speakers

Julian Lovell (Webinar Chair)
Managing Director, Equipe Group and AGS Lead on Occupational Competence

Julian has been involved with developing guidance and standards for the sector for over 20 years. He was Lead Author for the UK Specification for GI and ICE Effective procurement of GIs. Julian is currently Chair of the AGS GI Steering Group and B/526/7/2 which are both looking at defining competence for those within the ground investigation industry.  He is also a member of the BDA T&E, BGA’s GENIUS initiative and SLG 3 and SLG 10 committees developing competence frameworks within ground engineering and land drilling.

Faye Burnett
Mace Advisory Consult and Super Sector Programme Director

Faye has established and is the Programme Director for the SLG10  Super Sector Programme, a 1,000-person cross-industry competence initiative focussed on installer occupations, driving leadership and collaboration across industry.  Faye also leads the Competence workstream under the Construction Leadership Council, serving as the primary contact for competence-related inquiries from CLC members.

Ciaran Jennings
Project Lead at the Ground Forum

Ciaran originally trained as a journalist and became a content marketing expert for 14 years before taking over as Development Director at Forum Court Associates.

For the past 12 years, he has been the Secretary to the Federation of Piling Specialist (FPS), and his team provides the secretariat function to the Association of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Specialists (AGS), Specialist in Ground Condition (SiLC) and Ground Forum.

Jim De Waele
Adjudicator at Coudrier

Jim is an adjudicator and expert witness with 35 years of experience in the geotechnical contracting business.  He has held senior positions with Balfour Beatty (Stent) and latterly Keller where he was part of the executive, working across many different countries.  He has served on the committees of the European Federation of Foundation Contractors and is a past chair of the Federation of Piling Specialists.  He is the lead author of the ICE Specification for Piling and Embedded Retaining Walls and the DFI-EFFC Guide to Working Platforms.  He is currently also a trustee of the British Geotechnical Association and a visiting professor at the University of Birmingham.