Welcome to the Council for the Built Environment (CBE)
The Council for the Built Environment (CBE) was established as a statutory body by Parliament (Act 43 of 2000) to provide leadership to, and ensure good governance of the professions, while serving as a two-way channel for coordinated input, into the restructuring and development process, between the professions and Government.
The Republic of South Africa has painstakingly fashioned itself as a developmental
state since the onset of democracy in the year 1994. The changes that the state has had
to manage over the last fourteen years have been daunting. The apartheid government
bequeathed a lop-sided human, social and physical development that essentially has
seen two economies operate within one economy. This backlog of services, which
mostly impact on previously disadvantaged communities, cuts across all sectors of the
economy. The Council of the Built Environment (CBE) finds itself uniquely
positioned to contribute to the various government programs in a manner that not only
responds to legislative and socio-economic requirements, but also addresses the
development of professional bodies and their members.
Apart from the services rendered by the six constituent professional bodies, the
Council must identify other avenues through which the priorities of government may
be realized or catalysed. One such area is skills development. The lack of sufficient
numbers of appropriately skilled professionals in the BE sector is now widely
accepted by various economic commentators as not only stifling economic growth but
also frustrating efforts to provide services to communities in areas ranging from
roads, housing, and physical infrastructure.
The CBE is aware of these imperatives and has sought to partly address these aspects
through this CPD policy framework. Like all other empowerment issues, social and
economic development is something that people have to claim for themselves once
appropriate structures and enabling environment is provided. It is this foundation, a
facilitative and enabling operational environment, that the CPD policy framework
provided here seeks to provide to all members of the various professions in
accordance with their legislation and voluntary association constitutions. Thus, this
CPD policy framework allows for the development of professional competence in
order to achieve quality services in the BE sector and also contribute to national
developmental goals.
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