CIOB sets out new membership pathways

The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) is revamping its membership application process, providing candidates with clearer, more personalised and in some cases better value pathways to achieving chartered status. The changes come into effect in Q2 of 2021 and map out seven different pathways for candidates, who will be advised which route to take according to their background (see below).

“These changes do not affect the rigour or credibility of our qualifications but remove barriers to entry and better enable those joining the CIOB to clearly choose their own journey to chartership,” says Amy Gough, CIOB director for membership.

“Yes, we want to grow our membership, and that has got to be good for the industry to have more people with better qualifications and working to higher quality standards.”

The new pathways have been introduced following extensive consultation with members and non-members, starting in January 2020, including the CIOB’s Novus network, gaining the views of the younger generation.

“We became aware that barriers were preventing some applicants from achieving Chartered Membership,” explains Gough. “Some people had been stuck in the Applicant grade for five years, not reaching the end goal of Chartered Membership. Some might leave after just a year. Affordability was an issue, particularly for graduates.

“Our consultation also informed us that we weren’t transparent enough about how long the process would take and how much it would cost.”

The new pathways move away from the ‘one size fits all’ approach and provide a more efficient, personalised experience including clearer pricing, so that prospective members know the costs involved.

The pathways provide access to CIOB products and services to support candidates’ professional development – including a new mentoring service (see below) – and allow the institute to meet the differing needs of individuals in a meaningful way.

“So, an experienced construction professional, with five years of industry experience and a qualification below degree level, would take our Experienced Practitioner Pathway,” Gough explains.

“They would go on to our Chartered Membership programme (CMP), followed by their Professional Review (PR). Typical candidates for this pathway would have worked their way up through the trades.

“At the other end of the spectrum, a graduate with a built environment degree and less than three years’ experience could take the Structured Pathway and our professional development programme which would include their PR.

“Graduates with non-built environment degrees, and less than five years’ experience, can do our graduate conversion course through the Structured Pathway – it’s important we provide a pathway for these candidates with transferable skills, degrees such as mathematics for example, given our industry skills shortage.”

The CIOB has included a Self-Development Pathway for graduates who would prefer not to do any more training, instead providing them with professional development support services until such a time when they can do their PR.

There are also separate pathways for students, where they will have a choice of free membership or can pay for an enhanced subscription that includes our CM magazine. Additionally, there is a pathway for educators and the existing Direct to Fellowship Pathway.

All candidates can expect a more user-friendly membership portal.

“The application process was pretty clunky before, and we have removed unnecessary questions,” Gough says. “The experience should be smoother and will allow candidates to see how they are progressing through their application and along their entire journey to Chartered Membership.”

● Further information: www.ciob.org or call +44 (0) 1344 630700.