What is the Product Map?
The Building Safety Regulator has helped bring a sharper focus to competence, risk and accountability across the built environment. One useful resource in this wider shift is the Product Map, which looks at how finance and insurance products can support safer buildings and better decision making.
In plain English, the Product Map helps show where financial services, insurance, risk management and building safety overlap. That matters because fire safety is no longer just something dealt with on site or at the end of a project. It now needs to be considered from the earliest planning stages through to occupation, management and long-term maintenance.
The BSI Built Environment Competence Hub brings together guidance, standards and competence resources for the sector, developed with the Industry Competence Steering Group and the Building Safety Regulator.
Why the Product Map Matters for Fire Safety
For years, many people treated fire safety as a technical issue for contractors, fire engineers or building managers. That view is too narrow. Funding, insurance and risk decisions can all influence how safely a building is designed, built and managed.
The Product Map helps highlight those links. It shows that lenders, insurers, brokers and risk professionals can play a stronger role in supporting safer outcomes. For example, they can encourage project teams to prove competence before funding is released or before cover is agreed.
That may sound dry, but it matters. If finance and insurance providers ask better questions, poor practice becomes harder to ignore.
Product Map and Competence in the Built Environment
Competence is now a major part of building safety reform. The Building Safety Act 2022 created a stronger focus on dutyholders, accountability and safer outcomes across design, construction and occupation. The Construction Leadership Council notes that the BSR was set up to help improve competence, regulate higher-risk buildings and raise safety standards across buildings.
The Product Map supports this direction by helping different sectors understand their role. It encourages joined up thinking between asset owners, developers, insurers, lenders, contractors and building safety professionals.
For fire safety, this is important. A safe building depends on more than one person doing one task well. It depends on clear records, competent people, good procurement, strong oversight and proper risk management at each stage.
Using the Product Map to Reduce Risk
The Product Map can help asset managers and construction professionals review how risk is being managed across a project. It can also support better conversations with insurers, lenders and consultants.
Used well, it may help teams:
- Check competence early: Make sure the right people are appointed before key decisions are made.
- Improve fire safety planning: Link design, construction and occupation risks more clearly.
- Support better procurement: Avoid choosing suppliers based only on cost.
- Reduce delays: Spot risk and compliance issues before they become expensive problems.
- Strengthen accountability: Make roles and responsibilities easier to understand.
Why Building Safety Professionals Should Pay Attention
The Product Map is not just a diagram. It is part of a wider move towards better competence, clearer responsibility and stronger safety culture. The BSI says its Competence Hub is designed to help professionals and organisations navigate a complex regulatory and professional landscape.
For anyone working in fire safety, compliance, asset management or building safety, this is worth watching. The sector is moving towards higher expectations. Employers will increasingly need people who can understand regulation, manage risk and work across different professional groups.
Career Opportunity: Building Safety Project Manager
Are you an expert at navigating complex regulatory frameworks and driving organisational competence? Royal Borough of Greenwich are seeking a dedicated professional to lead vital compliance initiatives.
- Role: Building Safety Project Manager
- Type: Full-time
- Location: Thamesmead, London
- Salary: £54,267 – £57,402 per annum
In this vital role, you will manage whole project safety lifecycles, engage key stakeholders, and ensure full compliance with BSR guidelines. If you possess exceptional leadership skills and want to influence the future of built environment safety, apply today.
Apply for the Building Safety Project Manager position on Building Safety Jobs
