- Client: European Commission - Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME)
- Implementation period: September, 2015 - February, 2018 (Completed)
- Geographic coverage: European Union
- Theme: Energy
- Topic:
- Experts: Koen Rademaekers, Rob Williams, Katarina Svatikova, Irati Artola
How successful has the EU BUILD UP Skills (Pillar II, 2015 – 2018) initiative to “upskill” construction workers with energy efficiency skills been?
In the EU, the building sector accounts for nearly 40% of total energy consumption and over a third of CO2 emissions. Energy efficient building and renovation require knowledge and skills beyond business as usual construction. Tackling the skills shortage in the construction sector is essential for European energy efficiency targets for the built environment to be met. Against this backdrop, the main purpose of this project was to support the implementation of the BUILD UP Skills Pillar II initiative, and ongoing Horizon2020 EE4 construction skills projects aiming to advance the energy efficiency skills of the construction workers. This has been done through facilitating exchanges of experiences, fostering cooperation and enhancing cross-learning between the different country projects part of the initiative. Next to that, Trinomics has also monitored the projects and evaluated the programme.
Trinomics has supported the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) by providing the following cross-cutting consulting activities:
- Design, organisation and implementation of four large EU exchange meetings bringing together policymakers and BUILD UP Skills project coordinators from across Europe (70+ participants).
- Set-up and facilitation of four Technical Working Groups on relevant topics related to skills namely 1) financing and long-term sustainability of projects, 2) mutual recognition, 3) innovative training methods and materials and 4) market acceptance.
- Bi-monthly newsletters in the area of energy efficiency (skills) and policies and projects in the construction sector.
- Monitoring of progress and evaluation of the BUILD UP Skills Pillar II programme. The assessment has been done against six evaluation criteria: Relevance, EU added value, Efficiency, Effectiveness, Coherence and Sustainability. The conclusion is that BUILD UP Skills has been a successful, relevant, unique and timely initiative. The projects have helped to set the basis for education of construction workers, developed high quality and innovative materials, developed a good network and raised awareness among construction workers and policy makers on the importance of energy efficiency, renewable energy sources and cross-craft skills for blue collar workers. The final BUILD UP Skills Pillar II Evaluation report is published on the project website here.
The BUILD UP Skills project ran since 2015. The project was led by Trinomics, in collaboration with GOPA.com and Visionary Analytics.
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Technical Working Group 4 on ‘Market Acceptance’ during the 7th EU Exchange Meeting. Source: 7th EU Exchange Meeting Report.