The report, which was commissioned by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), looks at the skills that will be required by workers to make the construction sector – currently responsible for around 40% of the UK’s carbon emissions – a net-zero carbon emitter by 2050 and how these can be developed.
To achieve net-zero in the construction sector, a co-ordinated programme of interventions, such as energy efficiency retrofit, deployment of low-carbon energy, on-site generation, energy storage and smart
systems, will be required. Retrofitting existing buildings will play a key role in the decarbonisation of the sector, with work required on up to 27 million domestic buildings and 2 million non-domestic buildings. Carrying out this work will require the equivalent of 350,000 new roles by 2028, the report finds.
To develop the skills needed to decarbonise the construction sector, the report presents the following findings and recommendations:
- Business as usual demand-led development and provision of training will not be enough
to achieve net-zero. - A working group of stakeholders should be convened to conduct a gap analysis of
existing course content and plan for needed revisions. - A commitment to a specific decarbonisation pathway is required, including developing a position on the use of hydrogen for heating, and planning of zones for heat networks and heat pumps.
- Immediate action is required to build up the resources and facilities to address a critical shortage in retrofit design and building enveloper roles.
- Steps must be implemented to close the gap between design and operational performance to achieve net-zero.
- Support for deployment of no-regrets interventions should be rolled out immediately, while
resources to deliver those with more complex training requirement should be developed.
This report is available free of charge. Please provide a few details about yourself and one of the team will email you the full report shortly.
