Enhancing and standardising skills for energy-efficient buildings
The EU’s Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) promotes policies that will achieve a highly energy-efficient and decarbonised building stock by 2050 – for both renovations and new builds. Yet, construction of high-quality sustainable buildings, especially residential, suffers from inadequate quality assurance during construction/renovation, a shortage of relevant and up-to-date skillsets as well as low demand from owners and developers. To support the construction industry, NEWCOM (New competence for building professionals and blue-collar workers – certified qualification schemes to upgrade the qualification for building nZEBs) developed nearly zero-energy building (NZEB) training schemes. The training is modular with units either stand-alone or complementary to pre-existing courses. In addition, a competence database was created to help standardise mutual recognition of skills across Europe. The database links course-accredited competences with individual professionals using an app-mediated skills card, viewable by potential clients. “By inputting further training or course modules, this system can be expanded to other professional fields,” says project coordinator Georg Trnka from the Austrian Energy Agency (website in German).
Enhancing and standardising construction skills
For the construction sector to ensure the highest energy efficiency for buildings, even minor construction or renovation errors need to be avoided. An airtight building envelope has to be established along with professionally installed heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Yet there are gaps in the skills required to achieve this. “Further education about energy efficiency is surprisingly scarce in many European countries, and existing courses often don’t cover topics like cross-craft understanding, life-cycle service or continuous energy control and monitoring,” adds Trnka. “As there is also declining demand for personal certification in building services and skills under ISO 17024, unless it relates to safety, it makes sense to tie energy efficiency training to established courses.” Based on the priority needs of the project partners, NEWCOM’s training modules focused on three topics. Firstly, Flat Roofs and Roof Waterproofing, taking a lifelong service approach, including planning and installation of green roofs and energy efficiency measures. Secondly, Ventilation Installations, including heat recovery, noise protection, controlled airflow and smart demand systems. Thirdly, Quality Assurance in the planning, construction and operation phase of NZEBs, including aspects of indoor air quality, quality of the thermal building envelope and the energy system, such as cost-efficiency measures. The project’s partners, who helped develop the NEWCOM training modules, were organisations tasked with national energy efficiency implementation and/or having experience in upskilling professionals, such as institutions and vocational schools responsible for NZEB skills. Train-the-trainer sessions were conducted and involved 149 trainers from different professional backgrounds. The competence database was based on a methodology developed in cooperation with the BIMplement project. After completing a training module, professionals can be tested in accordance with Units of Learning Outcomes, which certify the individual’s skills. The competence database is linked to the BUILD UP Skills Advisor app which can display a professional competency card, viewable by clients or companies.
Building benefits
NEWCOM supports the EPBD, the EU’s legislative instrument for improving the energy performance of European buildings. “Building owners benefit from higher workmanship and energy efficiency, while pan-European standardisation benefits professionals seeking mobility of employment,” explains Trnka. Most of NEWCOM’s training modules have been adopted by the project’s partners, for example in Austria by the Working Group for Energy Consultant Training. In Hungary, the modules were offered in cooperation with the TRAINBUD Sustainable Construction Skills Alliance. While Slovakia offers the training in cooperation with other projects such as StavEdu and ingREeS. The team have gone on to develop further training (running September 2020 until February 2023) for quality, energy efficiency and renewable energy in building construction. Included in the BUILD UP Skills app, the training aligns with the competence database, supporting the mutual recognition of skills. In Austria specifically, an energy skills needs assessment was undertaken, supported by the national climate protection network, klimaaktiv, and included a review of national supplier network training. This resulted in three short online training modules, focusing on residential building renovations, ecological construction material management and quality checks on energy efficiency. “These were targeted at national energy advisors, a key group linking consumers with the construction sector, who have the right background knowledge and are often willing to partake in this kind of ‘cross-trade’ training,” says Trnka. Over 100 participants took part between December 2021 and December 2022, with over 80 % evaluating the training as excellent.
Keywords
NEWCOM, training, sustainable, energy efficiency, construction, building, renovation, NZEB, nearly zero-energy building, HVAC, skills, quality assurance