CPD in the construction industry

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is widely recognised throughout the construction industry and allows individuals to reputably demonstrate their skills, knowledge and abilities.

What is CPD?

CPD is an industry-recognised accreditation that maintains, improves and enhances skills and knowledge within the industry.

CPD combines a variety of learning methods that enable individuals to be proactive throughout their development with a mixture of practical and academic learning methods, such as training workshops, e-learning or conferences.

About CPD in the construction industry

The construction industry is becoming increasingly committed to maintaining and developing the skills and knowledge of construction workers, whether it’s keeping them up to date with changes, improving current skillsets or learning new skills.

CPD plays a vital part in the construction industry as it allows professionals to keep up with the ever-changing acceleration of technology, regulations, procurement practices, specialisms and integration of the supply chain.

Nowadays, there are many professional institutes that require individuals to undergo continual training, such as the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) or the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB).

The benefits of CPD to construction organisations

CPD training allows organisations to provide a development pathway for employees and in turn, this can massively benefit the business.

Some benefits include:

• Ability to meet business objectives
• Opportunity to maintain high standards
• Share best practices across the business
• Increase staff motivation, productivity and engagement
• A strong emphasis on staff development
• Provide useful benchmarks for annual reviews
• Receiving a CPD accreditation enhances brand reputation.

The benefits of CPD to professionals

Ongoing training within a role is becoming the new norm. Professionals are proactively improving their understanding of the industry and keeping up with industry regulations and changes through their learnings of CPD.

The main benefits for professionals include:

• Increasing confidence and capabilities
• Driving self-development
• Easily evidence learnings and developments
• Allow the individual to focus on a skill gap
• Showcase commitment to the role
• Staying up to date with the ongoing industry changes.

Generally, undertaking CPD training should be utilised by employees to grow their understanding and career within the construction industry.

Professional bodies and CPD

CPD is starting to become a fundamental part of the construction industry. Today, within construction, there are around 50 professional bodies and member institutes in the UK that aim to direct their members to success.

When you gain a CPD membership, you will have unlimited access to their resources including training, advice and strategies, all to progress your professional development.

Measuring continued professional development

To maintain a CPD membership, the construction professional is required to complete a certain number of educational activities. For example, the Royal Institute of British Architects have to undertake a minimum of 35 hours of learning. Educational activities could include seminars, e-courses, workshops, conferences and training courses. Ultimately, the hours spent learning will be converted into CPD points, units or credits.

As part of the professional qualification, the individual will record the number of hours spent on training and they will start to build up a CPD record. It will be recorded in terms of objectives, learning outcomes and what can be put into practice.

Industry CPD requirements

CPD has been established in the construction industry for a long time and all professional bodies have longstanding requirements in place to ensure workers get the correct training.

The chosen construction professional body is an important factor of CPD as it determines the effectiveness of the learnings. Many professional bodies are non-profit organisations that are established to assist and support their members.

CPD construction courses and workshops

Within the construction industry, there are thousands of different CPD courses and workshops that cover all trades, skills and areas of knowledge. All the courses benefit individuals massively. The course will keep them up to date with industry standards, grow their abilities and progress their careers.

It’s important to research the CPD course in detail to guarantee the course is relevant to you and your career goals.