Skyline Skills Recommendations Report launched
The highly anticipated Skyline Skills Recommendations Report was launched on 9th August 2023, emphasising the need for a skilled, diverse workforce to construct, retrofit, and manage the sustainable buildings of tomorrow.
The BCIA is proud to be part of the Taskforce supporting the City of London Corporation with its Skills for a Sustainable Skyline initiative, which has galvanised significant support and brought the construction industry together in order to deliver on the recommendations.
The Taskforce will identify and bridge skills gaps to ensure that Central London has a globally competitive sustainable commercial built environment which will be crucial in an effort to retain the city’s world leading financial and professional services sector.
The Taskforce has three key focus areas:
Building the evidence base on the planning pipeline, skills gaps, qualifications gaps, identifying barriers to action, and the business case for investing in green skills.
Delivering impactful interventions which directly address the issues raised in the evidence piece. This may involve career and qualification pathways, unlocking financing for upskilling, planning policy, procurement rules etc.
Delivering an industry engagement campaign to promote reskilling and upskilling among the existing workforce, and raising career awareness amongst Londoners, including those from underrepresented backgrounds.
Having offered a variety of training courses for more than 25 years, the BCIA’s training programme is highly regarded throughout the construction industry, making the organisation ideally placed to assist the City of London Corporation in boosting the supply of skilled workers for sustainable buildings.
Building Controls is a fast growing market with numerous opportunities for skilled engineers to help build a sustainable built environment. The Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS) Controls Engineer Apprenticeship, first launched in 2021, offers a balance of technical training and on the job assessments to match the needs and requirements of the apprentice’s employer. The BCIA also offers a number of technical training courses, from a basic introduction to building controls through to more advanced theory and practice.
Stacey Lucas, Vice-President of the BCIA, said: “The BCIA is very proud to be supporting the Skills for a Sustainable Skyline Taskforce. As an organisation the BCIA recognises the skills shortage faced by the industry and believes the key to a sustainable future in the built environment is to invest in young people and give them the motivation and training to make a significant contribution. By doing this we are confident that we can provide an ongoing inflow of talent into a burgeoning sector and help the UK meet its Net Zero targets.”