Linda Clarke, Professor of European Industrial Relations in the Westminster Business School (WBS), has been interviewed by the Financial Times and Sky News about the need to improve training in the construction industry in order to meet the scale of the challenge of retrofitting.
The articles discuss how housing is responsible for a quarter of the UK’s carbon emissions and there is therefore a need to retrofit buildings if the country is to meet net zero targets by 2050.
However, the articles point out there is a huge labour shortage in the construction industry, with individuals not equipped with the knowledge, skills and competencies to carry out wide-scale retrofitting.
Speaking about the challenge of bringing in new recruits to train for retrofit, Professor Clarke said: “There is a dire need to bring young people into the industry.”
Furthermore, she argues that vocational education and training levels are at a historic low, and UK standards are behind most European neighbours. Most construction trainees in further education colleges qualify to Level 2, whereas retrofit work requires Level 3 (retrofit assessors, who visit your house and prescribe systematic fixes for energy loss, are at least a Level 4), she adds.
Professor Clarke argues that colleges are also increasingly equipping themselves with the necessary facilities, such as heat pumps and mock houses to demonstrate air tightness. But the domestic electrician qualification (Level 3), which features environmental elements, is only just coming on board and there is still no clear occupational standard for insulation.
Read the full article on the Financial Times’ website.
Read the full article on Sky News’ website.
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