Project: Skills for Climate Change (Newham)

Green builders: Equipping London businesses to compete in a changing market

The Skills for Climate Change Project in East London is identifying skills gaps directly related to climate change and responses to it, amongst small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in built environment and construction services. The aim of the project is to identify the key green skills required in the construction and building services sectors and then develop learning tools that will slot into existing Level 2 and Level 3 qualifications. The project will develop six learning tools.

The project is starting with a research initiative to identify the current ‘green’ needs in London, from which the detailed learning tools will be developed. Areas of interest are energy efficiency, heating and ventilation, and the building envelope.

Project feature

The issue

The need addressed by the project is amongst local small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), who do not have access to the new environmental building techniques required to work in large-scale regeneration programmes. It is seeking to identify skills gaps and develop the learning tools to ensure that they have opportunities to gain these new skills and therefore sustain employment in the future.

The Sector Skills Summit identified that 94% of building sector and 80% of the construction sector are SMEs, mostly subcontracting to larger buyers, the ‘Tier One’ companies. These large construction companies have embraced the Retrofit agenda and look to procure services form local SMEs.

The problem is that whilst Tier One construction companies are embracing the London Retrofit Agenda, SMEs and small contractors lack the skills for the new techniques. The gap will continue to widen unless action is taken to provide access to the right training. Tier One construction firms will source the services they need from outside the local area if they do not exist nearby. The project is based on the objective of strengthening an important local sector to equip it for long-term structural change in service needs, and enable it to benefit from large-scale regeneration projects.

Wendy Smith, business development manager, explained how important acquiring new skills is to sustain employment amongst SMEs. Understanding the large-scale projects across London and what skills will be needed ensures that the right learning tools can be developed and integrated into existing qualifications. People receiving training now will receive these elements, but the development process will also make them accessible to those who have completed the training, via on site access.

‘If the demands are changing and you have to apply new skills, and if as a small employer you are never addressing this, then you are being left behind. The idea is that when they take on apprentices, those apprentices have the necessary skills to take the employer forward.’

Newham College has good contacts with SMEs through their enterprise work-based learning and apprenticeship employers’ forums. As SMEs are unlikely to have the resources to attend separate events, it is important to have an effective communicate network with them about the project.

The project is being managed in three phases:

1. Initial mapping and research report, starting in early 2010, with the final report to be completed by 23 March 2010. The research will be carried out by ECOTEC Research and Consulting, and will be based around future large-scale regeneration projects in London, with a big focus on the Retrofit Agenda, identifying environmental hot spot areas within construction and building services and the skills gaps in these sectors. The aim is to identify the key areas and then develop six learning tools that will slot into the existing qualifications framework at Level 2 and Level 3. The project is not to write the qualifications, but to develop, test and deliver learning tools to slot into existing qualifications framework.Once the need has been identified, the development, testing and embedding of learning tools is expected to take place in the academic programme in January 2011. This will be delivered at Croydon College and Newham College.
   
   The composition and delivery of the tools will depend on the outcome of the research, which will indicate preferred learning techniques as well as innovative development and delivery of the skills. Piloting is proposed with Bovis Lend Lease and other large organisations who have on-site training facilities.


2. In late 2010 the project plans to develop a toolkit for local authorities dealing with best practice for green skills, ensuring that they are part of the procurement process and that local people benefit. The project will be working mainly with Newham Borough Council, which has massive regeneration projects going on at the three major programmes, Olympics, Canning Town and Stratford – of which the Olympics is the smallest piece of work!
   
   The toolkit for Newham Borough Council needs to address the procurement process with the Tier One contractors. The council would like to include recommendations on minimum skills standards which their subcontractors are obliged to possess, especially green skills. If these skills are lacking, then training should take place at their on-site training facilities, regardless of it being a Retrofit project.


3. Reviewing knowledge based transfer capabilities amongst London based FE and HE to be able to address the environmental skills and learning agenda posed by climate change for London based companies.

Future developments

The research will also include a mapping exercise, mainly looking at Scandinavia, France and Germany. France is leading the European field in developing innovation. UK is around 15 years behind other European countries and Scandinavia has developed lots of different building techniques. For example, the project’s Swedish partners are interested in the methodology, the model of developing learning tools to slot into existing units developed in the project and transferring it to other sectors, such as fashion and textile.

The project would like to develop a strategic alliance with the London Development Agency (LDA) Low Carbon Forum to ensure complementary action without repetition and align regional plans with the LDA. Meetings have been held but it is early days yet.

Contact details

Wendy Smith, Business Development Manager
Newham College of Further Education
High Street South, East Ham, E6 6ER

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