CIOB reveals impact of pandemic and new legislation on academy training courses

Trend shifts in the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) Academy’s course take-up are directly linked to external factors, data has revealed.

Demand for building conservation learning soared between 2018 and 2021 given the rising prominence of conservation and retrofit, with attendee numbers peaking at 159 for a single year.

Meanwhile, the impact of COVID-19 sparked a drastic uptake in the number of people registering for JCT Contracts courses with a staggering 135 per cent increase in enrolments between 2020 and 2021.

CIOB believes this is a direct result of the pressure put on contracts by the COVID-19 pandemic and that the increased take-up shows how clients and contractors do not want to be caught out by delays and associated costs again should a similar situation arise.

The professional body also experienced a surge of demand in building safety-related courses since the introduction of the Building Safety Act in 2021.

Between 2022 and 2023, interest in CIOB’s Fire Safety and Building Safety Courses spiked significantly, with booking numbers increasing by 18 per cent and 28 per cent respectively. The data revealed a gap in the training market for a dedicated Building Safety Act (BSA) course.

To satisfy demand, CIOB recently unveiled its new Building Safety Act Awareness e-learning course, tailored to ensure built environment professionals can keep up-to-date with the latest changes to legislation within the construction sector.

Adrian Montague, Director of Academy at CIOB, said: “In recent years we have seen a gradual decline in our more generic course offerings, most likely due to a reduction in training budgets.

“However, since the introduction of the Building Safety Act in 2022, there has been a real increase in demand for building safety-related courses.

“That increase in uptake prompted us to work closely with Equans to develop a new e-learning course and fill the obvious void in the kind of training available for built environment professionals.

“I am sure this course will be of great benefit to everyone in the construction sector as it covers all the essential elements of the legislation.”

CIOB’s Academy was launched in 2016 and is a platform to helping both experienced and aspiring built environment professionals demonstrate competence and excellence in everything they do.

Course topics on offer range from building conservation to fire safety and JCT (Joint Contracts Tribunal) Contracts. Since 2021, CIOB Academy has had more than 3,000 bookings in total.

Meanwhile, the take-up for JCT Contracts courses soared once again in 2023 with CIOB Academy registering 221 learners, a 40 per cent increase from the previous year.

Montague continued: “It is great to see there is still a significant demand for our Academy courses, which we believe are a great benefit to both experienced and aspiring built environment professionals.

“We are committed to continuing to adapt and develop our service offerings, in line with the ongoing changes to the construction sector and we already have a number of exciting opportunities in the pipeline for 2024.”