
The Build Up Skills alliance continues being a benchmark for construction training in the European networks
The Construye 2020+ project participates in the 12th European Build Up Skills exchange meeting, organised by the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (Easme).
On 10th December, Miguel de Gracia, head of International Projects at Fundación Laboral de la Construcción, presented the Construye 2020+ project at the XII European Exchange Meeting of Build Up Skills, organised by Easme. The meeting disseminated the achievements of this partnership, which is the third pillar of the European initiative Build Up Skills in Spain, all of them led by the entity.
Build Up Skills is one of the European flagships in relation to the promotion of sustainable skills for professionals in the construction sector, launched by the European Commission in 2011. It is supported by the strategic objectives of ‘Europe 2020’ and the roadmap ‘Resource Efficient Europe’ and the ‘Agenda for new skills and jobs: a European contribution towards full employment’.
This initiative, launched a decade ago as part of the Intelligent Energy Europe programme, focused on promoting Vocational Education and Training (VET), Dual VET and continuous training for trainers in the sector in the field of energy efficiency and renewable energy systems. The aim was to increase the number of skilled workers in Europe who could perform efficient and sustainable building renovations, and to promote the construction of new nearly zero-energy buildings. Currently, Construye 2020+ is the third part of this initiative, at Spain, under the umbrella of the Horizon 2020 programme.
During the international meeting, in addition to presenting the objectives of the three pillars of Build Up Skills (coordinated by the Fundación Laboral de la Construcción), Mr. Roman Horvath, policy officer at the Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Enterprise and SMEs – belonging to the Directorate General for Growth – of the European Commission, presented the Construction Blueprint initiative for the development of a new strategic approach on professional skills in the construction industry for the European Union.
Pillars of green training in the sector
- Build Up Skills Spain: Belonging to the Intelligent Energy Europe (IEE) programme, this is the first call of this Spanish initiative, in which 30 countries participated. Between 2011 and 2013, the status quo of sustainability training in the construction industry was defined to allow, at national level, the consideration of the agents involved (companies, workers, business associations and other entities) and to identify the qualification needs of the current workforce. In this sense, a roadmap was established on the skills needed to achieve the energy sustainability objectives for 2020 and to develop concrete training plans.
- Build Up Skills Spain ‘Construye 2020’: Belonging to the Intelligent Energy Europe (IEE) programme, it is the second call of the Build Up initiative, in which 21 European countries participated. The objective of the phase (2013-2016) was focused on improving the achievements obtained in the first call, improving the VET of the sector at national level and the catalogue of professional qualifications. During this initiative, the priority actions included in the roadmap of the Build Up Skills Spain Pillar I project were implemented. In addition, a training tool was developed with training programmes to improve the skills of workers in the field of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energies, with a view to meeting the energy targets set by Europe for the year 2020.
- Construye 2020+: The current Build Up Skills initiative under the construction skills strand of the European research and innovation programme Horizon 2020 (H2020 EE14 Construction Skills). It continues with the aim to support and further develop multi-country qualification and training systems. From 2018 to 2021, work is being carried out to update the training contents developed during Pillar II to adapt them to the European objectives of the 2030 Agenda and to respond to the needs of the current market.