Craft carpentry and joinery / Skills England

Key information

Reference: OCC0263-
Date updated: 13/01/2025
Level: 3
Route: Construction and the built environment
Regulated occupation: No

This is not the latest approved version of this apprenticeship. View the latest version

Details of the occupational standard

Occupation summary

This occupation is found in both the new build and refurbishment construction sector. The construction industry is central to creating the homes, schools, hospitals, energy and transport infrastructure society needs. There is growing demand for carpenters and joiners to help meet the need for the transition to modern methods of construction, heritage projects and sustainability.

The broad purpose of the occupation is working with wood-based materials and associated products to create and install complex building components. This typically involves shaping and cutting materials, installing finished materials like complex or decorative components. All work needs to be carried out safely, using the appropriate tools and to the quality specified.

This occupation includes two different options and people will either work on a construction site as an Advanced Site Carpenter or in a workshop as an Advanced Architectural Joiner.

Advanced Site Carpenters work on building sites in the construction of domestic and commercial properties, preparing and installing complex and bespoke building components. They prepare, construct and erect irregular and complex roof structures.

Advanced Architectural Joiners are employed in a workshop creating complex building components by setting out, marking out and create assembled products requiring advanced skilled work including the full range of woodworking machines. There will often be a need for refurbishment or repair work of bespoke pieces.

In their daily work, an employee in this occupation liaises with other construction roles such as bricklayers, plasterers and plumbers, supervisors, site management, architects, designers, contractors and customers.

An employee in this occupation will be responsible for working in a team, lead others, using machinery and tools to create, refurbish or repair structures or components. Having attained this level of competence, they could progress further in the industry as team leaders, trade forepersons, contract or works managers.

Typical job titles include:

Advanced architectural joiner Advanced site carpenter

Core occupation duties

Duty	KSBs
Duty 1 Work in compliance with occupational health, safety and environmental requirements to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of self and others at all times	K1 K2 K3 K4 K5 K6 K7 K8 K9 K10 K19 K20 K21 S1 S2 S3 S6 B1 B2 B3 B5 B6
Duty 2 Interpret technical specifications including digital information, identify requirements, develop the work programme and schedule, plan their own work and that of the team accordingly, ensuring this is communicated clearly to colleagues	K2 K4 K5 K7 K11 K12 K14 K15 K16 S1 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S10 S11 S12 B3 B5
Duty 3 Select the required quantity and quality of resources required for carrying out complex and non-standard work, including timber, tools and fixings.	K4 K5 K7 K9 K15 K16 K18 K21 S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S8 S12 B5
Duty 4 Plan and organise the work site including setting out the work site, materials, tools and equipment appropriate to the project for self and others.	K1 K2 K3 K4 K6 K7 K10 K11 K13 K16 K18 K21 S1 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S9 S12 B1 B3 B5
Duty 5 Plan the work to obtain optimum environmental, quality and schedule performance from the team	K1 K4 K7 K8 K11 K12 K16 S1 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 B1 B3 B5
Duty 6 Complete work of fire door systems in accordance with current legislation	K1 K4 K6 K10 S1 S2 S3 S6 B1 B5
Duty 7 Carry out their work in compliance with all current and relevant building regulations and quality standards, where appropriate checking the work of others for compliance including the installation of fire door system	K1 K2 K4 K6 K15 S1 S2 S3 S6 S8 B1 B3 B5
Duty 8 Take a lead when working in a team, especially when complex or non-standard work is involved	K1 K2 K7 K8 K9 K11 K16 S4 S7 B1 B2 B3 B4 B5
Duty 9 Utilise a range of advanced skills which allow them to carry out complex carpentry or joinery work to demanding tolerances and industry standards including measuring, marking out, fitting, cutting, splicing, finishing, positioning and securing	K1 K15 S2 B1 B3 B5
Duty 10 Collaborate with stakeholders, clients and other construction roles, including programming and technical matters	K11 K12 K14 K16 K19 K20 S4 S7 S10 S11 B1 B2 B3 B4
Duty 11 Carry out quality checks of own and others work against specification and take action where required, providing remedial work instructions to others	K17 S4 S8 S10 S11 B1 B3 B5
Duty 12 Lead by example and promote sustainable building practices	K5 K8 K9 K13 S6 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6
Duty 13 Carry out pre-use checks of all tools and equipment to be used for the project by self and colleagues, providing training and instruction where necessary	K1 K3 S11 B1 B3 B5 B6

KSBs

Knowledge

K1: Awareness of health, safety and welfare regulations, standards, and guidance and impact on role of the team and other construction trades . Employer and employee responsibilities. Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (CoSHH). Fire safety and Fire door legislation. Health and Safety at Work Act. Asbestos awareness. Manual handling. Signage and notices. Fire extinguishers. Situational awareness. Slips, trips, and falls. Working in confined spaces. Working at height. Electrical safety. Reporting injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences regulations (RIDDOR), Provision and use of work equipment regulations (PUWER) & near miss reporting. Back to Duty

K2: Types incidents - accidents, near misses. Mitigation methods. Incident management techniques. Back to Duty

K3: Safe systems of work, control measure implementation and monitoring techniques. Back to Duty

K4: Safety Control equipment and safety techniques: Personal protective equipment (PPE), respiratory protective equipment (RPE) and local exhaust ventilation (LEV). Back to Duty

K5: Environmental management systems and standards. Environmental Protection Act, types of pollution and control measures: water, noise, air pollution, smells, spills, waste and disposal of hazardous waste. Back to Duty

K6: The principles of building construction: Fire safety, fire doors and linings, fire stopping, water ingress. Staircases, security requirements for external doors and windows. Vapour barriers, breathable membranes and sound proofing. Back to Duty

K7: Methods of interpreting information from drawings, specifications, the production plan and producing work instructions, utilising traditional and digital methods. Back to Duty

K8: Resource quantity calculation techniques, costing, wastage and recycling allowance. Back to Duty

K9: The importance and considerations of the environment: U values, R Values, thermal bridging, airtightness, acoustic performance and thermal performance requirements of carpentry and joinery components. Back to Duty

K10: Standards and regulations associated with carpentry and joinery: British standards, building regulations, warranty provider standards. Back to Duty

K11: Written communication techniques. Plain English principles. Back to Duty

K12: Documentation methods and requirements - digital and paper based. Back to Duty

K13: Different energy efficiencies of insulation products and common construction methods sustainable principles associated with timber, manufactured timber-based products and associated materials. Back to Duty

K14: Purpose and use of digital design and modelling systems in carpentry and joinery. Back to Duty

K15: The principles of heritage building, considerations, like for like replacement and other techniques applicable to the carpenter and joiner. Back to Duty

K16: Planning, work scheduling, and time management techniques for self and others. Back to Duty

K17: Quality assurance requirements and monitoring techniques. Back to Duty

K18: Stock, material stock and considerations: Availability, stock lead times. Correct handling to prevent damage. Stock value. Faulty stock and returns process, stock rotation and quality control. Back to Duty

K19: Well-being: Mental and physical health considerations in self and others and how to access support. Back to Duty

K20: Inclusion, equity and diversity in the workplace. Back to Duty

K21: Hand and portable power tools for non-standard and angled carpentry and joinery work. Back to Duty

Skills

S1: Comply with health and safety regulations, standards, and guidance. Back to Duty

S2: Identify and use safety control equipment including RPE, dust suppression, PPE and LEV. Back to Duty

S3: Implement and monitor safe systems of work and control measures. Back to Duty

S4: Interpret and extract information using paper based or digital techniques from drawings, specifications and provide work instructions. Back to Duty

S5: Calculate resource and cost quantities from site measurements. Back to Duty

S6: Apply environmental and sustainable principles in compliance with regulations, standards and systems for example segregate resources for reuse, recycling and disposal. Back to Duty

S7: Apply planning, work scheduling and time management techniques to identify and agree production plan targets. Back to Duty

S8: Apply quality assurance procedures. Back to Duty

S9: Select, check and use hand and power tools. Back to Duty

S10: Complete documentation - paper based or digital. For example, job sheets, time sheets, risk assessments, method statements, equipment service records, handover documents, work sheets, checklists, incident reports, requisition sheets, quality records. Back to Duty

S11: Communicate and report in written form any issues against the production plan and contribute to the solutions. Back to Duty

S12: Obtain, monitor and rotate stock and supplies. Back to Duty

Behaviours

B1: Take personal responsibility for their own health and safety. Back to Duty

B2: Support an inclusive culture. Back to Duty

B3: Take responsibility for the quality of work and encourage others to work to high standards. Back to Duty

B4: Collaborate and promote teamwork across disciplines and external stakeholders. Back to Duty

B5: Committed to continued professional development (CPD) to maintain and enhance competence in their own area of practice. Back to Duty

B6: Promotes health, safety, environment and sustainability principles to others. Back to Duty

End-point assessment (EPA plan)

Rigorous robust and independent assessment undertaken by an apprentice at the end of training to test that the apprentice can perform in the occupation they have been trained in and can demonstrate the duties, and knowledge, skills and behaviours (KSBs) set out in the occupational standard

End-point assessment organisation (EPAO)

An organisation approved to deliver end-point assessment for a particular apprenticeship standard. EPAOs must be on the register of end-point assessment organisations

Holistic or synoptic

Assessment of an apprentice’s knowledge, skills and behaviours in an integrated way i.e. assessing several KSBs at the same time

Knowledge, skills and behaviours (KSB)

What is needed to competently undertake the duties required for an occupational standard

Valid

Referred to in relation to assessment methods; fit for purpose

Change request policy

Most changes to an apprenticeship are made as a result of a holistic review of it. We prioritise the need for such reviews based on a range of factors. These include:

the time since the apprenticeship was developed or last reviewed (taking account of its typical duration)
the existence of any known problems with it (e.g. lower than expected starts, low achievement rate, high withdrawal rate, any issues with the availability of training or end-point assessment provision)
whether the apprenticeship is currently subject to a dispensation
the relative significance of the apprenticeship based on how many users it has

The availability of an employer group to support a review and its potential impact on any related technical education product also inform the timing of a review.

Details of apprenticeships that are currently being revised or adjusted are available in our revisions and adjustments status report.

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Craft carpentry and joinery