‘Green and Future Construction Skills Forum’ with Kirklees College.

Green skills were at the top of the agenda on Friday 20th January 2023 at The Brunel Construction Centre – Kirklees College.

A forum of local industry employers, colleges, training providers, local authority figures and FE professionals came together to discuss green skills of the future in construction.

With conversation focussed on the learning journey for students and apprentices, attendees all agreed that their learners are conscious and enthusiastic about protecting the environment. This centred the forum’s conversation on how future curriculums and assessment could be changed to include sustainability as a key component.

Jas Hayre, Skills Associate at WYCC spoke about the courses on offer under ‘Collaborative Apprenticeships’ to supplement the learning and skillset of apprentices. This drew significant interest from employers who had concerns of the inconsistent lengths of time between end of course, and final qualification assessments.

Jas also highlighted The Green Skills Service, a new service from WYCC that encourages and supports employers to become more sustainable.

Construction companies like Gleeson and Big Red emphasised how vital apprentices are in their companies, but also for their community and social value responsibilities.

The group enjoyed a tour of the college campus to see the newest facilities being prepared for apprentices and students to get upskilled into fitting electrical vehicle charging points and heat pumps.

Kirklees College is receiving over £150k capital investment from the DFE’s Strategic Development Fund for Electric Vehicle equipment.

Steven Plumstead, Head of Faculty for Construction and Land Based Studies at Kirklees College led the morning’s activities. He said, “Skills like these will diversify and strengthen any tradesperson’s CV and keep them competitive as national legislation changes.

“Today has been a good opportunity to showcase and test opinion on some of the work we are doing as a college and as part of the West Yorkshire Consortium of Colleges.”

This event is part of the Department For Education's Strategic Development Fund and is managed by the West Yorkshire Consortium of Colleges.