GQA Qualifications for Facade Installers Explained

GQA Qualifications is the awarding organisation that owns the National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) for the UK glass, glazing, cladding and fenestration industry. Every competent facade installer working on a UK construction site — curtain wall, rainscreen, windows, doors, balustrades — holds a GQA-awarded NVQ, and it's the qualification that underpins their CSCS card.

For specifiers and main contractors, GQA is the paper trail proving your facade subcontractor's operatives are actually qualified to install the system they've tendered for. On any Building Safety Act higher-risk building — and any major commercial or residential job — asking for GQA evidence on every named installer should be a default part of pre-start.

What GQA Qualifications Cover

GQA awards NVQs at Levels 2 and 3 covering the trades that make up the facade installation package. The most relevant to Delta's work are:

• —NVQ Level 2 Fenestration Installation — aluminium windows, doors and window walls
• —NVQ Level 2 Cladding Occupations — rainscreen, curtain wall, insulated render
• —NVQ Level 3 Fenestration Surveying, Fabrication and Installation — supervisory / lead installers
• —NVQ Level 3 Cladding Occupations — supervisory cladding installers
• —NVQ Level 2 Glazing — flat and processed glass installation

How GQA Maps to CSCS

The CSCS card (Construction Skills Certification Scheme) is what allows an operative through site security. But CSCS itself isn't a qualification — it's a scheme that issues cards based on the qualifications you already hold. For facade trades, the qualifying route is a GQA NVQ.

A CSCS Blue Skilled Worker card requires a completed Level 2 NVQ in the relevant trade. A CSCS Gold Advanced Craft or Supervisor card requires Level 3. A CSCS Black Manager card requires Level 4 or higher. Every step of that ladder, for facade trades, is a GQA-awarded qualification.

GQA and the Building Safety Act

The Building Safety Act 2022 puts competence at the heart of every duty-holder role — Principal Designer, Principal Contractor, and by extension the installation subcontractors delivering the work. On higher-risk buildings, being able to prove operative competence with named GQA qualifications is now part of the golden thread that the Building Safety Regulator can request at gateway review.

This is why headline percentages like '100% NVQ qualified installers' matter — they're the shortest way to signal that every named individual on the package can be traced back to a GQA certificate.

Manufacturer Training and Approved Installer Schemes

GQA sits underneath, not alongside, manufacturer training. Schüco Academy, Reynaers Institute, Kawneer approved installer and similar schemes assume the operative is already NVQ-qualified — the manufacturer training layers system-specific detailing, weathering, gasket engagement and QA on top of that base competence.

The strongest facade crews carry both: a GQA NVQ Level 2 or 3 as the base, plus manufacturer certification for every system they routinely install. Delta's crews are structured this way as a matter of course.

How Delta Uses GQA

Every directly-employed installer on a Delta Facades package holds a GQA-awarded NVQ Level 2 or 3 in cladding, fenestration or glazing, plus a matching CSCS card. Supervisors and site managers hold Level 3 minimum, with SMSTS on top for site management competence. Manufacturer training is layered above that — Schüco Academy, Kawneer, Reynaers and Technal certifications for the systems we install week in, week out.

Frequently Asked Questions