In response to the Second Reading of the Energy Bill in Parliament on Wednesday the 22nd of December, CITB-ConstructionSkills chief executive Mark Farrar said: “We welcome the government’s efforts to create a new market around energy-efficiency through the ‘Green Deal’. However, despite a good number of SMEs who are already well skilled to take advantage of the low carbon work out there, there are thousands more who currently don’t have the skills or knowledge to effectively take on this type of activity.
“We are running the ‘Cut the Carbon’ campaign with the Federation of Master Builders and the National Specialist Contractors Council to raise awareness amongst SMEs of these issues, but it is just as important that skills and training are fully addressed by initiatives such as the Green Deal. If it fails to do so, we simply will not have the people with the right skills to deliver the ‘greener’ construction and built environment sector now required by upcoming legislation and regulation.”
Carbon emissions from the Construction and Built Environment sector account for almost half of all UK emissions. Thousands of people with the right skills will be required to install the energy efficiency measures to meet the new market the Green Deal will create as householders apply for loans to reduce energy waste in their homes under the scheme from next year.
Despite this, recent research commissioned by CITB-ConstructionSkills highlights that three in 10 of the builders – who will be expected to install products through the Green Deal from 2012 – still have a ‘poor understanding’ of the Low Carbon agenda and there are continuing concerns over the proper accreditation of builders under the scheme to ensure the public are protected against the ‘cowboy builders’ and ‘rogue traders’ who have previously undermined the reputation of the industry.
In response CITB-ConstructionSkills is highlighting four key skills areas that need to be addressed if the Government is to achieve its aims:
Awareness: It will be critical to develop awareness of the market potential of delivering a low carbon built environment amongst SMEs, ensuring the ‘greening’ of construction industries and course by their associated skills suppliers – for example further education colleges.
Investment and training:It is likely that, as the Green Deal is rolled out, the wider industry will be emerging from current low levels of activity and there will be a need to improve the skills of thousands of existing workers across the Construction and the Built Environment sector, which will require adequate government funding.
Standards and qualifications:The accreditation of advisers, providers and installers under the Green Deal needs to be linked to standards and qualifications. Resource will be needed for both young trainees and the existing workforce to enable them to gain new knowledge and skills required for delivery of low carbon solutions and new and emerging technologies.
Quality and accreditation: Codes of practice that will eventually underpin the Green Deal to ensure advisers, providers and installers operate effectively. While it is important that the supply chain is not overly restricted, it is equally important that delivery is not undermined by the £6.4bn a year informal economy, Farrar said.
In a motion tabled by Julian Huppert MP, the ‘Cut the Carbon’ Partnership has already received the support of 32 MPs. CITB-ConstructionSkills is lobbying government and parliament to put its message across as the Energy Bill moves on to the committee stage in the House of Lords on 17 of January, before then entering the House of Commons.
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