Construye 2020+, the first project of the Horizon 2020 programme led by Fundación Laboral de la Construcción, is getting started

With a budget of €797,111, six Spanish partners will work for 36 months to promote the transition to sustainable, competitive and efficient energy in the construction industry. Fundación Laboral de la Construcción, the National Institute of Qualifications (Incual) beloging to the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, the Eduardo Torroja Institute of Construction Sciences (IETCC) -Superior Council of Scientific Research (CSIC)- and the State Foundation for Training in Employment (Fundae) and the Institute of Robotics and Information and Communication Technologies (IRTIC), attached to the University of Valencia, return to work together to promote efficient and sustainable construction, through a comprehensive training and accreditation scheme that allows for appropriately qualified professionals in energy efficiency (EE), renewable energy (EERR) and near zero energy buildings (nZEB).

These four institutions are joined to the Centro de Investigación de Recursos y Consumos Energéticos (Circe) and the Instituto de Robótica y Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (IRTIC) -University of Valencia-, to form the consortium of the project “Construye 2020+. A new impetus for employment, growth and sustainability” (call H2020-EE-2017-CSA-PPI, file number: 785019).

Horizon 2020, a programme of excellence

This is the first initiative of the Horizon 2020 programme that the European Commission’s Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EC) has awarded to the Fundación Laboral de la Construcción, with a budget of 797,111 €, for its development over 36 months. The Horizon 2020 programme contributes to tackling the main social challenges, promoting industrial leadership in Europe and reinforcing the excellence of its scientific base. Construye 2020+ is one of the initiatives aimed at achieving Safe, Clean and Efficient Energy through the professionalisation of workers.

The joint entity has already been recognised for the successful coordination of two previous projects related to this third: Build Up Skills Spain (2011-2013) and Build Up Skills Spain “Construye 2020” (2013-2016), both belonging to the Intelligent Energy Europe (IEE) programme, in their 2011 and 2012 calls, respectively. In both initiatives, the Foundation had the collaboration of Incual; and in the last one, also with the IETCC and the Fundae.

Galería de la presentación del proyecto

 

Setting objectives

On 21 and 22 June, the kick off meeting of Construye 2020+ took place at the building of the Fundación Laboral de la Construcción in Madrid, where fifteen professionals from the six Spanish organisations participating in the project met to tackle the first steps of this Horizon 2020 initiative.

The objectives set by Europe are to promote the transition towards sustainable, competitive and efficient energy in the construction industry. In this sense, the partners of the Construye 2020+ project will work along these lines, by defining updated training and areas of recognition of “green” skills, through the development of the following purposes:

  • Develop an integrated and updated common training framework based on the innovation model of Quintuple Helix.
  • Train workers and technicians in skills related to EE, EERR and nZEB, also promoting transversal understanding between trades.
  • Involve construction SMEs to lead a sustainable construction market and the training of workers.
  • Create new sectoral competences for professionals in the sector, recognising knowledge about EE, EERR and nZEB.
  • Develop a new “energy auditor” qualification.
  • Carry out effective awareness raising, dissemination and knowledge transfer actions so that all project actions have an impact on key actors and target groups.
Gender Awareness

With regard to awareness-raising, the project includes seminars on the gender perspective in the sector in each of the meetings that will be held throughout the life of this initiative. In this first meeting, the partners were presented with Women can Build project, which is also coordinated by the joint entity, and the results achieved at the current stage of development of the project. From data presented, an enriching debate was generated on the presence of women in the construction sector, in which it was highlighted that the modernisation of the industry is undoubtedly due to the indisputable incorporation of women in jobs usually carried out by men, and their normalisation, stimulated by the technological evolution of the sector and the expansion of the labour market towards energy efficiency.