As a result of new legislation, UK construction must become a low carbon industry by 2020. In order to survive, companies need to become carbon clever and develop their knowledge, skills and expertise in areas such as energy conservation, air tight construction, waste and water management.
In response to this, the Training Group, with a membership of forty three Oxfordshire construction companies, has developed an innovative Sustainable Construction qualification – supported by CITB-ConstructionSkills, the Sector Skills Council and Industry Training Board, and the Federation of Master Builders – that will help firms to upskill employees and establish a competitive edge.
Tim Fenn, Vice Chair of the Oxfordshire Construction Training Group and Director of Bicester-based P3Eco ltd, commented: “Construction employers have to ensure that their workforces learn sustainable construction techniques so they can successfully deliver low carbon projects. Soon, the Code for Sustainable Homes building regulations will change from evaluating design standards to evaluating ‘as built’ standards. This is a huge leap for builders because greater emphasis will be placed on build quality, particularly regarding energy efficiency.”
“However, the industry is lagging behind on training in this area. At present, there is a significant gap between ‘design’ performance and ‘as built’ performance and much of this can be put down to poor knowledge of sustainable construction. We therefore developed the qualification, positioned as ‘designed by builders, for builders’, to arm our member firms with the required knowledge they will need to deliver energy efficient buildings. We have been working with CITB-ConstructionSkills to get this qualification approved and have recently partnered with Accredited Skills For Industry (ASFI) as the overall awarding body. We are now planning to roll this out to all builders nationally and have formed an Eco Building Skills Training UK ltd. in order to do this.”
Indeed, it is the voice of small construction companies that is driving the industry’s low carbon training agenda. Tim explained: “A lot of innovation in construction comes from the smaller firms and it is these small companies, more so than larger firms, that are calling for comprehensive training in this new skills area. In Oxfordshire we are going to have one of the first Eco Towns (North West Bicester), which will be an important milestone for the low carbon sector. Appropriate training will certainly be put in place, as many will be watching to see how the new buildings perform.”
Roger Stone, Sector Strategy Managerfor CITB-ConstructionSkills in the South, added: “The Oxfordshire Training Group is certainly ahead of the game with this new course; it is very much to their credit that that they have developed a qualification to support businesses through the transition to a low carbon industry and I’d like to see the course used as a model within other training groups around the country.”
CITB-ConstructionSkills last year launched its ‘Cut the Carbon’ campaign aimed at directly supporting SMEs – helping them understand what the new carbon legislation will mean for them and equipping them with a tangible mix of knowledge and skills to respond to increased client demand.
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