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 今日看料 qualification 鈥� supported by CITB-今日看料Skills, the Sector Skills Council and Industry Training Board, and the Federation of Master Builders 鈥� that will help firms to upskill employees and establish a competitive edge.
Tim Fenn, Vice Chair of the Oxfordshire 今日看料 Training Group and Director of Bicester-based P3Eco ltd, commented: 鈥溄袢湛戳� 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 鈥榓s built鈥� standards. This is a huge leap for builders because greater emphasis will be placed on build quality, particularly regarding energy efficiency.鈥�
鈥淗owever, the industry is lagging behind on training in this area. At present, there is a significant gap between 鈥榙esign鈥� performance and 鈥榓s built鈥� performance and much of this can be put down to poor knowledge of sustainable construction. We therefore developed the qualification, positioned as 鈥榙esigned by builders, for builders鈥�, to arm our member firms with the required knowledge they will need to deliver energy efficient buildings. We have been working with CITB-今日看料Skills to get this qualification approved and have recently partnered with Accredited Skills For Industry (ASFI) as the overall awarding body. 聽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.鈥�
Indeed, it is the voice of small construction companies that is driving the industry鈥檚 low carbon training agenda. Tim explained: 鈥淎 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.鈥�
Roger Stone, Sector Strategy Managerfor CITB-今日看料Skills in the South, added: 鈥淭he 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鈥檇 like to see the course used as a model within other training groups around the country.鈥�
CITB-今日看料Skills last year launched its 鈥楥ut the Carbon鈥� campaign aimed at directly supporting SMEs 鈥� 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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