How to prepare your CPD for RIBA approval

You’ve put together a CPD, you’re happy with it and you want to get it RIBA-approved. What do you need to sort out before submitting it?

There’s a bit more to it than taking out the sales pitch and adding some learning outcomes.

RIBA assessors look closely at the technical information, the evidence behind your claims and whether you’ve given delegates enough information to specify safely. They read the speaker notes too. You can have a cracking-looking presentation and still have quite a bit of work to do.

We prepare and submit CPDs for manufacturers across a range of construction sectors. These are some of the things we find ourselves checking, correcting and explaining most often.

Start with the simplest thing: write your standards properly

Honestly, this is such an easy win.

Write out the full standard reference, including the relevant part, edition year and any applicable amendments. Then use it properly throughout the presentation.

For example, BS EN 13501-1:2018 is a complete reference used in our assessment feedback. Just writing “EN 13501” leaves out the national prefix, the part and the year.

In our experience, RIBA generally wants the date all the way through. We’ve had an assessor allow the full reference at first mention and a shorter version afterwards, but we’d usually just put the full reference everywhere. Once you’ve checked it, it’s hardly any more work.

That includes the speaker notes and handouts. It’s quite easy to tidy up the slides and forget about everything underneath them.

If a standard has several parts, check which part you mean. And please don’t assume the reference is current because it came from an old presentation, or even a guidance document. Check it before copying it across.

Does the title actually match the presentation?

We’ve had an assessor ask us to narrow a CPD title because it sounded as though we were covering more than we actually were.

Fair point. “Anti-graffiti solutions” could mean anything from concrete walls to glass. If the presentation is entirely about glazing, “Anti-graffiti protection for glazed surfaces” is much clearer.

The same applies to slide headings. If you’ve called a slide “Film thickness and material”, you need to explain what the films are made from as well as how thick they are. That’s another real example from assessment feedback.

These are small things, but they’re worth a check. Read your title and learning outcomes once you’ve finished writing. Have you actually covered what you said you would?

Get the three specification essentials in early

RIBA asks manufacturers and suppliers to cover three specification essentials wherever they’re relevant:

• Building, fire and life safety.

• Environmental performance.

• Product information and performance.

These requirements apply to new, amended and updated submissions from 1 September 2024. Unchanged content approved and published before that date is the exception, but once you submit that older content for update approval, the requirements apply.

We’d think about these right at the start. Otherwise, you can end up with a finished presentation and a load of extra information to squeeze in somewhere.

Building, fire and life safety

What does someone need to know to specify and use this type of product safely?

Depending on the subject, that could include fire performance, testing, suitable applications, system components, installation risks and maintenance.

Give people enough detail to understand the point. If you’re referring to an Approved Document, tell them which section matters. If there’s an installation risk, explain what it is and how it can be reduced.

We’ve had assessors ask for more information about safe installation and maintenance, including the responsibilities of duty holders under the CDM Regulations. Just mentioning CDM didn’t do the job. We needed to explain what it meant for the products and work being discussed.

Environmental performance

This goes quite a bit further than whether the material can be recycled.

RIBA also wants delegates to understand how this type of product affects the building when it’s actually being used. Does it help reduce energy demand? Improve thermal comfort? Are there trade-offs they need to think about?

Take solar shading, for example, whether that’s blinds, solar-control film or another shading solution. A useful CPD would explain how it affects solar gain, what that could mean for overheating and cooling demand, and what specifiers need to check. It should also explain how those considerations relate to the relevant Building Regulations, such as Part O or Part L in England, where applicable.

That doesn’t mean saying “add solar shading and you comply”. Explain what the solution can contribute, what evidence is needed and what still needs assessing for the building as a whole.

Keep the language educational here too. Explain how products performing this function work and what delegates should look for, rather than listing the environmental benefits of your own range.

Then cover the material’s wider impact: where it comes from, how it’s manufactured, how long it lasts and what happens when it’s removed.

If it’s recyclable, does it need separating from something else first? Does it need a specialist scheme? Is that route actually available? Where Environmental Product Declarations are relevant, explain what delegates should look for and provide appropriate supporting evidence.

Check your graphs too. We’ve had an assessor ask for sources and units because the figures on a slide couldn’t be properly compared. People need to know what the numbers mean and where they came from.

Your company’s sustainability policy won’t cover all this. Give delegates the information they need to understand the impact of what they’re specifying.

Product information and performance

Explain how this type of product or system performs, how it’s tested, where it’s suitable and what people need to know about installing and maintaining it.

Include the limitations. What happens if someone specifies the wrong product, changes the build-up or installs it incorrectly?

You’ll also need to gather the relevant evidence for the assessor. That could include branded technical data sheets, independent test reports, certification and installation guidance.

Send a sensible selection and explain what each document is there to demonstrate. You don’t need to dump your entire technical folder on them and hope they find the right bits.

We find ourselves chasing all of this: test reports, environmental information, installation instructions. Get it together early and you’ll save yourself a lot of back-and-forth later.

Here’s the catch: you still can’t turn it into a sales pitch

This is a really important one.

RIBA asks for environmental and performance information. So you add a slide saying your product is made from recycled materials, explain its performance and mention your take-back scheme.

Job done?

Unfortunately, you may have answered one request and created another problem. You’ve now put commercial content into the educational section.

You need to explain what delegates should look for when specifying that type of product. For example:

Obviously, the actual advice needs to be right for the product category. But you get the idea.

The branded technical documents can go in as supporting evidence for assessment. The teaching needs to explain the options, limitations and things the specifier should check.

It’s worth doing a separate read-through just for this. You can get so focused on supplying the technical detail that you don’t notice how often you’ve slipped back into talking about your own products.

What needs to go in the slides?

Some information can be supplied in handouts or supporting PDFs, depending on the subject and RIBA’s requirements.

For safety-critical products, the relevant performance information needs to be covered in the main CPD as well. You can’t leave the important explanation in a handout and assume that’s enough.

The same commercialism rules still apply. Explain the safety and performance requirements in neutral terms and provide the supporting evidence alongside them.

Also, don’t assume “safety-critical” only means fire products. RIBA’s examples include fixings that prevent falls, elements that prevent collapse and products dealing with hidden hazards. Check where your product fits before deciding what to include.

One very simple check: if a slide says “see the handout”, have you actually uploaded the handout? We’ve had that picked up too.

You don’t have to remove every trace of your company

There is room for branding and company information.

The March 2026 guidance allows up to six company-profile slides at the beginning or end, a company logo once per slide and up to four educational case-study slides. There are conditions attached, so check the current guidance before putting the presentation together.

Case studies are useful when they explain something. What was the problem? What did the project need? How was it solved? What can someone in the audience take from that and use on their own project?

A build-up diagram, for example, can show what each layer does and why the components need to work together. You don’t need a sales message attached to every label.

In the educational section, look out for product names, promotional claims and little plugs for your other services. We’ve had assessors ask for these to be removed or moved into the company-profile section.

And check the notes. Putting a promotional line underneath the slide instead of on it won’t get it past the assessor.

The speaker notes need some attention too

For seminar submissions, RIBA asks for a working PowerPoint with full speaker notes. For videos, you’ll need a timestamped script.

The assessor needs to understand what you’re going to say. A diagram and three bullets might be enough to jog your memory, but they won’t necessarily explain the teaching to someone reviewing the file.

We had an assessor ask for more detailed notes on a design-considerations slide because it covered one of the most important parts of the seminar. The slide itself was there. The explanation wasn’t.

If you have a separate Word version of the notes, keep that up to date too. We’ve removed a promotional reference from the PowerPoint and accidentally left it in the Word document. Back it came in the next report.

It’s a boring check, but worth doing.

Amendments aren’t a failure

If RIBA comes back with changes, it’s them doing what they’re paid to do.

They might want a clearer explanation, more evidence, a corrected reference or a commercial line taken out. Work through the report and deal with each point.

Check which comments are conditions of approval and which are optional suggestions. And when you make a change, make it everywhere it appears.

If you’re not sure what an assessor means, ask. There’s an assessment-team contact for exactly that.

When we create your CPD, dealing with assessor amendments is included in the price. We’ll work through them with you.

Sometimes it’s useful to have a non-RIBA version as well

A non-RIBA version gives you more freedom to explain something using your actual products.

For example, you might want to walk through a build-up and name the products in each layer. That can be particularly helpful when you’ve got an innovative product solving a real problem, and using generic terms makes the explanation harder to follow.

It still mustn’t become a sales pitch. People have given up their time to learn something.

You can ask the practice which version they’d prefer. Just make sure they know which one is RIBA-approved, and keep the necessary technical and safety information in both.

If we’ve designed your CPD, we offer conversions between RIBA and non-RIBA versions for £1,500 + VAT. If we’re converting it to a RIBA version, we’ll prepare it for assessment and submit it for approval. RIBA’s own fees are separate.

A final check before you submit

Before you press the button, run through the whole pack:

• Does the title match what you’re teaching?

• Have you covered the learning outcomes?

• Are the standards and regulatory references correct and written out properly?

• Have you addressed the three specification essentials where relevant?

• Have any product plugs crept into the educational content?

• Is the safety-critical information in the presentation itself?

• Have you supplied evidence for your claims and figures?

• Are the speaker notes complete, with the same corrections made in every version?

• Have you included all the handouts and supporting documents?

• Does the branding follow the current guidance?

Get the latest guidance from the NBS Partner Platform when you start. An old CPD might have been approved perfectly happily at the time, but that doesn’t mean you can use it as a template and expect the same result now.

If you’d rather hand it over, get in touch. We’ll help you work out what to cover, create the CPD and get it ready for assessment, then deal with any amendments that come back.