Phase 1 · Get your bearings
From Incorporated-Member to Chartered Member
The progression route, what it adds, and the supplementary examination.
Who this is for:IMIStructE members moving to MIStructE
An existing Incorporated-Member moving to Chartered Membership takes a defined route, including a supplementary examination rather than the full Chartered paper.
What actually changes
The formal difference in the Core Objective standards between the two grades sits at Core Objective 3, Concept Creation and Design: Experience at Incorporated-Member, Ability at Chartered Member. Everything else is set at the same standard in both current guidance documents.
So the honest question to ask yourself is not "how do I re-do everything" but:
- Can I evidence concept creation and design at Ability — performed without supervision, and competent to advise others?
- Can I produce two genuinely distinct, viable schemes for an unfamiliar brief under examination conditions?
The first is a portfolio and evidence question. The second is an examination question, and it is usually the larger piece of work.
How to approach it
- 01
Confirm the route with IStructE first
Which elements you must repeat, and which you carry forward, is a decision for the Institution. Get it in writing before you plan.
- 02
Audit yourself against Core Objective 3 at Ability
Use the Core Objective page. Look for concepts you produced and advised on, not concepts you contributed to.
- 03
Get the concept experience if it is not there
This is experience, not writing. If you have been sizing and detailing rather than setting arrangements, that is a development plan measured in months.
- 04
Prepare for the supplementary examination properly
It is a scheme-design paper under time pressure. Practise producing two distinct schemes, appraising them and drawing them — see the examination area.
Before you commit to the progression route
Can I evidence concept creation and design at Ability, rather than Experience?
That is the one place the two grades' minimum standards differ, and it is the substance of the step up. Ability means without supervision, and competent to advise others.
When did someone last bring a concept problem to me?
It is a more useful test than counting projects. At Ability you are the person consulted, not the person contributing.
Have I practised producing two distinct schemes for an unfamiliar brief, to time?
The examination is usually the larger piece of work in this route, and it is a different skill from evidencing a career.
Have I asked IStructE what my route actually requires?
Which elements you repeat and which you carry forward is a decision for the Institution, and it should be in writing before you plan around it.
Getting the route straight
6 items · saved in this browser only
Related pages and tools
- Incorporated-MemberWhat Incorporated Membership represents, and the one place where its Core Objective standards differ from Chartered.
- Chartered MemberWhat Chartered Membership requires, what the ten Core Objectives are assessed at, and what the title actually depends on.
- Concept and designThat you can take a brief and produce a structural solution — choosing a form, setting a grid, deciding how load reaches the ground and how the thing stands up — with safety, carbon, durability, reuse, appearance and cost all in the frame.
- Supplementary examThe shorter paper for Incorporated Members moving to Chartered Membership — three parts, eighty marks, and a day that ends at one o'clock.