Architecture+Design ScotlandIs Scotland Green Jobs Ready?

25 April, Elim Centre, Glasgow

SESSION 1 – ‘Green Jobs’ and the potential barriers to success

John Sheridan, Co-chair 2020 Climate Group – Introduction to the event This one day conference explored key issues surrounding the development of jobs and skills for a greener economy with a particular focus on the construction sector. The content included the need to develop and transform existing skills as we move from traditional to modern methods of construction and touched on the need for new skills and the changes that will be required from industry if we are to meet our environmental targets.

Fergus Ewing MSP, Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism – Opening KeynoteThe Energy, Enterprise and Tourism Minister began by discussing the theory of architecture and the first author of architecture – Virtruvius, and his three principles: firmitas, utilitas, venustas – durability (longevity); utility (useful and functions well) and beauty (delight and raise spirits). He went on to link this philosophy to today’s notion of ‘green’ ideologies and principles and how these govern policy even now. In other words, today’s green buildings relate to these principles and create an opportunity for businesses, citizens and Scotland as a progressive society.

This was illustrated using projects supported by the Carbon Trust, including:

• The Malcolm Group – a logistics and construction company; cut energy usage through fuel-efficient driving.

• Hotel in Western Isles which was recently refurbished using a fabric first approach, resulting in a reduction in energy bills by 80%, to around £10,000 a year, while competitors may be paying up to £40,000 per year.

The Minister then highlighted the recent launch of Resource Efficient Scotland as a single advisory support solution, with advice from Zero Waste Scotland, the

Energy Savings Trust and the CarbonTrust, and other support mechanisms including the Green Investment Bank, which helps deliver major schemes through the smart cities network e.g. green transport and smart lighting.

Government support is also available to explore how district heating systems can reduce energy costs for home occupiers. The example of Denmark was used, and although Denmark has whole cities off the gas grid, there have also been successful schemes in Shetland, Aberdeen and Glasgow – we need to capitalise on these opportunities. But such schemes are only deliverable through collaborative working and Government support, such as the Green Deal initiative or support for renewables, to install more energy effective solutions. The Green Deal meets capital costs up front; the loan is paid by the savings made.

The Scottish Government is working with the UK Government to boost green jobs. Leadership by the Scottish Government in important policy areas such as resource efficiency and the development of the Low Carbon Economic Strategy intends to increase the value of the low carbon goods and services sector to more than 10% of the Scottish economy by 2015, creating 60,000 green jobs. The Low Carbon Economic Strategy also aims to encourage Scottish companies to exploit commercial opportunities. However, there are practicalities to this that need to be worked out and potential barriers to overcome.

Preparing for the green economy

GREEN JOBS CONFERENCE2Lori McElroy, Architecture and Design Scotland – The definition of ‘Green Jobs’ Lori set out the context of green jobs, a term that has been around for some time - and in fact back in 2009 Cabinet Secretary John Swinney announced that estimates indicated that grasping the energy related opportunities presented by Scotland’s natural environment could create over 16,000 jobs in the next decade.

There are various targets that influence the potential for green jobs in Scotland for example, it is estimated that 700,000 of Scotland’s 2.2 million households - almost 1 in 3 - are in fuel poverty. The Scottish Government Strategic Target is to end fuel poverty by 2016 and to reduce CO2 emissions by 80% by 2050. The Sullivan Report of 2009 recommended staged reductions for carbon emissions, leading to net zero Carbon in new buildings by 2017. The report also created signposts for future standards and took account of the problem of dealing with the existing housing stock. What it did not advise on is how all of this should be achieved. Other targets include those in the Climate Change Act 2009, which calls for an 80% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050 and as an interim step, 42% reduction by 2020.

In relation to all of this the Scottish Government is also committed to delivering 100% electricity and 11% heat or 20% total energy (whichever is the greater) by 2020. The focus on renewable energy offers huge potential not only in terms of delivering these targets, but also for job creation – however, it’s not that simple – in terms of both wind and marine energy for example, most of the skilled engineering and manufacturing jobs have gone overseas and this limits the types of jobs available. There are also significant challenges with the best sites, for renewables for example, often far from the centres of population, which could impact negatively on family lives. There are many issues to be overcome if we are to deliver any of this, and it is important to consider these and any potential negative impacts that a drive towards a green economy might bring.

Lori went on to describe some of the work that A+DS has been involved in over the last 5 years or so, which aim to create opportunities that can improve people’s lives through the green jobs agenda. The first example is a project that explored the potential to use Scottish products generally and timber in particular in the construction of new models for mainstream housing in Scotland. Scotland’s Housing Expo 2010 was the first event of its kind in Scotland. It was designed around a model run annually in Finland to act as a demonstration project in support of Scottish Government’s sustainable communities agenda.

Around 70% of the private developer led housing stock in Scotland is built using timber frame systems, almost exclusively manufactured from imported softwood, while our home-grown timber is sold to timber frame manufacturers in England and the wider UK. In recognition of a need to raise the bar in terms of design innovation within Scotland’s house building programme, the aim of the housing expo in Inverness was to give a national focus to key issues ranging from the development of low

Q&A with MSP Fergus EwingQ1. We’re not doing the same things as the last 30 years, but this means there’s new technologies and therefore a need for trained people. But there doesn’t seem to be any new apprenticeships / focus on this?

There is a need to ensure the installation of technologies such as biomass plants or wind turbines are carried out correctly. These are areas of expertise and new technology; therefore more needs to be done. There are courses in Ayr and Dumfries College. There needs to be certification in each technology. Trade Associations work with companies and know how best to deliver.

Q2. There was an article in the Edinburgh Evening News stating that 100’s of Green Deal assessments were being done in Edinburgh, in the first three months there were 1800 in England. There isn’t a Green Deal provider in Scotland, or accredited systems yet. The figures may not be as much as thought in the article, but how do we monitor those advertising the Green Deal assessments and police them?

It is common practice now that people must check the ID and safety of companies. However a new method should be no different, how do we know they’re accredited? We need proof of certification, and there is a question of how we do this – we need to make the public aware that there needs to be certification and to know to check.

Q3. You discussed case studies with successful energy reduction. Were they able to identify green jobs? Also did they have to retrain staff?

Attended the Carbon Trust Awards Ceremony, there were four businesses awarded – a key element to their success was the changed mind set of the workforce – everyone lives and breaths the new policy. For example in the hotel in the Western Isles, the staff stayed in accommodation next to the hotel and their showers were powered by the biomass boiler. If they wanted hot showers they had to keep the wood burning – so they had self-interest in the scheme. Unless all staff sign up and want to do it, they won’t succeed. This would be harder for bigger organisations to do.

GREEN JOBS CONFERENCE 3Buildings are complex and dynamic to begin with, and as we move towards a green economy the problem is exacerbated. At the moment there are really only checklist approaches available for options selection. This doesn’t work for a variety of reasons, from things not happening when you would need them to, to people and technologies not ‘matching up’ in terms of delivery and/or expectation. The result is that performance is degraded. While this approach sells products and provides a market opportunity, it does not necessarily help achieve a sustainable economy. A key part of delivering cost-effective solutions will be to have multi-skilled workers, however this is difficult. There are green job opportunities everywhere, but we have not developed mechanisms to service them.

There are myriad potential technologies, all of which are complex and which do not lend themselves to assessments through checklists. There is a green job requirement for people that understand the technical issues and how to deliver hybrid designs, understanding potential conflicts between them.

Post occupancy evaluations illustrate that many of the installed renewable and innovative systems do not work in practice for a variety of reasons. There are also cost shifts that occur, while running costs might be reduced there is an increase in maintenance costs, thus deferring financial impacts. This results in reduced emissions globally but increased emissions locally. Systems need to be well designed, controlled and monitored to work effectively. Green jobs can help to do this either within manufacturing or service industries e.g. an impartial testing facility. Green jobs also provide an opportunity to resolve conflicts between the myriad targets objectives and varying viewpoints.

The Lighthouse was used as an example of the potential of embedding renewable energy generation in a city context. The project was a useful demonstration but highlighted issues around lack of installer and user understanding. There were also maintenance problems in that The Lighthouse couldn’t get a company to maintain the equipment once it was installed.

Another case study was the Nines Project in Shetland. This involved 1000 homes, the energy system was up sized so that energy could be prioritised and stored with scheduled downloads to domestic appliances. People may loose amenity at different times and so there was a need for green jobs to be created or existing jobs to be edited to deal with this system.

carbon design strategies to the creation of new jobs and skills related to construction generally and the use of Scottish materials and products in both public and private housing. Huge lessons were learned and these have been documented for future ventures of this kind.

The Expo began to explore sustainable design from the position of opportunities for green jobs through local employment and by encouraging the development of new products. It also promoted and championed a number of initiatives that were already being pursued in collaboration with others.

In order to support and promote activities in the area of generation of a greener economy and green jobs, Architecture + Design Scotland’s Sust. programme is developing a Materials Library at The Lighthouse, Scotland’s Centre for Design and Architecture. The purpose of the Library is to provide companies with the opportunity to showcase sustainable, traditional, innovative and emerging low carbon building products in general and to promote and encourage innovation in construction in Scotland using indigenous resources.

We believe that the potential is much greater than is currently being exploited – Where for example is the Scottish equivalent to Welsh ‘Black Mountain’ Sheep’s wool insulation? Why are we buying in PV from Germany and China, when we still have the skills available within our declining electronics industry? But in order to exploit these skills and resources, we would have to accept that there would initially be an increased cost associated with buying local – or to find a way of subsidising this – or to deal with the real cost of cheap imports.

In summary, the point of all of this is that if we are serious about Green Jobs we have to focus on the wider issues and to be prepared to accept that there will be a price to pay in the short term.

Professor Joe Clark, University of Strathclyde – Potential pitfalls for the Green Jobs marketJoe Clarke explained that there are a number of opportunities for green jobs either through greening existing jobs or creating new ones. However, there are a lot of delivery requirements that would have to be met for these to be achieved.

Renewables potential in the city: The Lighthouse. See www.ads.org.uk/sust/activities/urban-energy-farm-2

GREEN JOBS CONFERENCE4terms of forestry, whereby wood is being imported to use for biomass plants. Brettstapel – use of low quality wood to create high quality solutions. Perhaps we should look at clean coal technology rather than importing timber from Ireland.

SESSION 2 – Building the Right Infrastructure

Professor Branka Dimitrijevic, Glasgow Caledonian University – Upgrading our infrastructureBranka began by setting out the global context of an increasing population with 40% increase in population in 70 years; it is therefore essential to consider how we use resources more efficiently.

To move towards sustainable development there is a need for a balance between the economy, the population and the world. There are issues associated with these changes e.g. if the population grows beyond the worlds limits.

The UN Conference on Environment and Development set out sustainability targets at a global scale in 1992 such as Agenda 21, a framework convention on climate change and a framework convention on biological diversity. In Scotland there are mechanisms in place such as the Government Economic Strategy 2007, the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 and A Low Carbon Economic Strategy for Scotland 2010.

The 2011 Infrastructure Investment Plan has been updated in 2013. It sets out proposals in the context of reindustrialising Scotland and sets out planned infrastructure projects. Scotland has started to implement a new vision of industrial development, which was started by an American economist – Jeremy Rifkin. His vision of an industrial revolution includes five pillars that will reduce carbon emissions from energy generation and use: renewable energy, buildings that contribute to energy generation from renewables, energy storage, ICT energy distribution systems and electric vehicles.

Additionally at the global scale there is a need to consider our ecological footprint and improve the energy efficiency of buildings and reduce their energy consumption. There are various themes that need to be considered in this regard:

There are also various green job opportunities in conditions monitoring and e-service delivery. This spreads from collecting data to delivery and informing the government and relevant authorities.

Joe finally touched on the key role of Green Deal assessors and the fact that the consequences of getting decisions wrong is underestimated. For example, insulation is not always the best solution for a retrofit scheme, green jobs need to consider the wider picture. Retrofit issues that appear a few years later can cause other issues because the hybrid of issues has not be considered. However, it is evident that challenges create opportunities for green jobs. We need to establish what our goals and aims are e.g. a lot of manufacturing occurs abroad; do we want to reindustrialise? Once this is understood we can then decide what green jobs are needed.

Q&A SessionQ1. What happens next? The West is reducing use of fossil fuels, while the economies of the East are growing and using more. Meanwhile, there seem to be investment opportunities e.g. in China. But what next?

Joe Clark (JC) - The Scottish Government is very connected with China. This is a big future market, but we must create something that offers a value situation, ICT, etc. We are politically well connected, but how do we generate a solution? We must be creative, we can’t sell them photovoltaics!

Q2. How can we gather data on alternative heating systems such as district heating and CHP to relay the information back to the public?

Lori McElroy (LMcE) – In other parts of Northern Europe district and group heating systems are supplied by a big energy provider for private as well as public housing and this is seen as usual. Retrofit Scotland is gathering case studies and putting them all in one place through a web-based resource. These will cover the last 20 years.

JC –Alternatively, low carbon electricity could be used to heat homes, and this would be something that could be changed and could grow. What if this system (would be large scale) replaces existing district heating systems (water based)? We need to be careful.

Q3. Natural / Scottish Materials – what are the barriers to their use?

LMcE - Chicken and egg situation, but we should explore using local materials more and use them more effectively to reduce unnecessary energy use and minimise depletion of natural resources.

JC - Bath University are doing a lot of research e.g. into moisture permeability. Have to progress slowly, small scale, test and a bottom-up approach.

LMcE - There is an issue of reducing waste, not just reusing materials. Otherwise you end up with people using plastic bottles in order to recycle them – this is not effective. Also, we are losing opportunities for example in

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site construction – not necessarily on technologies but on other elements. A key question is whether when a solution is found, are we ready with Universities / Colleges to get the skills in place?

The Homes and Communities Policies Emissions Abatement illustrates that the highest green jobs potential is through the Government’s schemes e.g. the National Retrofit Programme and the Scottish Governments Fuel Poverty and Energy Efficiency Programmes.

To conclude Sean gave an overview of a case study where second generation products were made. In 2007 production began but there was a need for support and skills to develop other products further. Edinburgh Napier had products that could be adapted to add value – but there was an issue as to who would install them. There was a need for the company itself to take early control and so they developed animations of how to install the product, this was launched early 2009. The sales and income generated saved a factory in England from being closed with 40 jobs plus 40 created (for installation).

Finally, Sean set out a number of key questions to consider. We need to develop facilities to credit / accredit products, otherwise we’ll end up importing! Are we ready for this? Are we too rigidly connected to environmental professionals / bodies? Can industry not come straight to Universities? Do we have test facilities in Scotland?

Jonathan Guthrie, Scottish Government – Finding New Investment Jonathan introduced his presentation by dispelling the myth that there is no money available to fund projects. There is money, but it needs to be targeted at the right projects. Their role is to understand the appetite of investment, and what projects there are. As such a Task Force – Scottish Government Investment Portfolio coordinate the development of projects. There are various funding mechanisms available to help facilitate projects including the Renewal Energy Fund £103m fossil fuel investment in which 13 projects have been invested in, with more on the way. Also, the UK Green Investment Bank £3bn is available (but has specific criteria).

The private sector is also keen to find and enable the right projects. All sorts of different lending mechanisms are

The recent Scottish Renewables’ Annual Conference gave an opportunity to see if these themes were considered. Many of the themes were covered through exhibitors such as Scottish Natural Heritage, and presentations. It showed that innovations of infrastructure systems are being developed worldwide and in Scotland.

Researchers at Scottish Universities are leading in many of these areas and there is a need for information and knowledge transfer into manufacturing and installation services.

To conclude, upgrading of our infrastructure is needed to:

• reduce ecological footprint

• reduce carbon emissions

• secure energy supply

• support the development of low carbon economy

• remain competitive in the global economy

• improve quality of life

Professor Sean Smith, Edinburgh Napier University – The Role of Research, Development and Knowledge TransferFrom Sean’s experience in knowledge transfer, he stated that a checklist is used in the research process, this is a set specification to follow – different to Joe Clark’s definition of a checklist. In this sense it is a physical detail specification that won’t change.

Sean set out a route to follow before green jobs get into the market and grow. This route can be used with existing projects and new ones. There is a checklist to follow, measure and assess. Part of this process includes Post Occupancy Evaluations (POE), a feedback loop requirement particularly for Scottish Government to consider. Sixteen projects have gone through this route and have gone through different iterations, as things don’t work the first time. When they get into the market there is a need to train staff. There are various future infrastructure schemes in the pipeline including Future Cities & Future towns, Smartercities and energy infrastructure onshore and offshore.

Sean introduced the Low Carbon Building Technologies Gateway – its aim is to support technologies in future new homes to achieve technical compatibility with energy, sound insulation and structure. In a context of 75% of all new homes being detached, products need to be compliant with other technical requirements e.g. now moved to rigid insulation – but this doesn’t meet requirements. There is a need to look in the round. In partnership with CiC-Start, 265 products / systems have been investigated with 50 more to go. As part of this two or three days a week experts are available to answer questions. Housing Authorities and CiC-Start are leading the way in sustainability requirements.

The benefits of off-site construction were discussed and the significant manufacturing ability in Scotland and therefore associated jobs. There is a lot of control in off-

Diagram illustrating the Role of Research and Knowledge Transfer

GREEN JOBS CONFERENCE6roofing systems now exist that integrate P.V. and solar hot water within roof cassettes structured in such a way that it is possible to accommodate a room in the roof space that serves an energy need while testing out new technology in the field.

Q2. We speak about the new skills required – but these don’t seem to be emerging. For example The Resource Efficient House at the BRE Innovation Park used off-site construction, but for some reason the roof was constructed and fitted on site separately and in the meantime the house got wet. There is a definite need for new skills in construction – but if we train people in traditional skills, we risk having people on-site for days at a time rather than weeks. Will off-site construction and MMC lead to a loss of jobs – do we need to invest in a new kind of skills?

Jonathan Guthrie – There is evidence that many companies would be willing to take on more people / sharing resources rather than multiskilling. There is a risk that the different disciplines will resist multi-skilled apprenticeships as this could begin to dilute the existing trades. There is also the issue that MMC relies on just in time delivery. Site managers need to get used to this – e.g. all foundations at first etc., and not in stages.

Sean Smith – we do have the skills and we have done a lot of this before – so let’s not reinvent the wheel. For example East Kilbride – had a large area with its own district heating scheme – which also heated the roads and kept them frost free – back in the early 1960s. Sometimes new systems work well but we need to learn the lessons and do more.

SESSION 3 – Generating Green Jobs and Skills

Philip Ford, CITB Construction Skills – Meeting the Green Deal Skills ChallengePhil began by setting out what the Green Deal is – it provides people with low cost loans for energy efficiency measures which are reclaimed against their energy savings. The Energy Company Obligation (ECO) is designed to support the Green Deal. It is available through energy companies for low-income households. £1.3bn/year is available until March 2015, 75% of this is aimed at reaching Carbon Targets, and 25% towards Affordable Warmth Targets.

A code of practice issued may make provision for many aspects of the Green Deal including qualifications and training. Alongside this, Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 2030 sets out technical specifications of installation. Phil went on to describe the delivery models of the Green Deal and the impacts of the deal. There is a need for up-skilling and retraining, even if training has been done through MCS, there is a need to go through the process.

Under the Green Deal Skills Alliance there are three Sector Skills Councils (SSC’s) working together to support the growth of skills capacity for the Green Deal. These include:

• Asset Skills – Green Deal Energy Advice.

available and it is important to get a mix – one investor doesn’t see a project from conception to completion, there is a need for a blend of lending approaches. This has been missed in projects previously and this is the role of the Scottish Government Task Force.

A second myth Jonathan wanted to dispel was that there are no projects to fund (or that are suitable for funding). This is not true, you just have to look for them. We need to understand them better, the mix of people involved, the history and where it might go, this is key to getting investment.

There are various larger scale issues to consider:

• Scale – associated challenges e.g. district heating and combined heat and power. Using where relevant and the right mix of technology.

• Aggregation – there is a drive towards four Local Authorities working together on one project – we have been able to do this previously for energy from waste plants where waste heat has fed into new a residential project next door (over authority boundaries).

• Replication – investors like that! Get the right project to do that – investors happy and get the right results.

There are thirty-two Local Authorities in Scotland, there is a need for them to work together and understand their priorities in terms of planning as well as landowners needs in order to facilitate change and meet energy requirements. There is a need for a supply chain of skills, linking up rather than specialising therefore enabling a system approach.

The next steps are to ramp up the scale of projects, learn how to assist projects with issues e.g. planning and working together. Also assist in early development issues – how do we get funding and development? To deliver this there is a need for confidence and ability to deliver, consistency in objectives and a clear strategy – what do we want and communicate this to the market, internationally.

Q&A SessionQ1. There’s money, projects and opportunities! So why aren’t we doing more?

We have to accept that these things don’t always line up at once, and it is very hard to get everything in place at the right point in time. We are progressing e.g. complete

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• ConstructionSkills – Green Deal Installers, covering insulation and building fabric.

• SummitSkills – Green Deal Installers, covering environmental technologies and building engineering services

• Research is currently being undertaken into the barriers to training.

CITB are supporting skills development through the review and amendment of Standards and Qualifications with industry, as well as informal and formal learning and training the trainers themselves. A major growth area has been solid wall insulation so this has been one area a lot of associated up-skilling has been implemented.

Lessons have been learnt from areas where it hasn’t worked, e.g. Australian Home Improvement Programme – poor workmanship resulted in four fatalities. In 2001 assessments of the houses showed that the work undertaken did not comply. Accreditation of training wasn’t done. This illustrates a need to manage integration of different trades. As well as new products as they are fast moving assets and need to be integrated.

There is a need to consider new ways of learning and creating more flexible approaches. Apprenticeships need to be more flexible for training and funding to respond to new products, as well as consider e-learning. Softer skills need to be considered e.g. selling exercises. There is a challenge for industries and customer service and how to inspire confidence. Nine workshops have been undertaken in 2012 on the Green Deal (with the Scottish Government), and Skills Development Scotland has put £12k per SME, with 50% of training costs up to a maximum of £500 per episode.

Diane Anderson, SQA – Getting the right education and qualificationsDiane outlined SQA’s role and their scope, working in partnership with technical experts. She went on to explore the different qualifications available including SVQ 2 – for the installer / hands on worker and National Progression Awards (NPA) – off the job training in a college environment. These two qualifications together form the ‘modern apprenticeship’. For new entrants it takes two years to train them up through this scheme. It is available for installers and service and maintenance.

For craft skills e.g. a plumber, electrician or roofer, the process takes four years. Two years off the job and two

on. New technologies are being incorporated into these apprenticeships by 2017, and will be ready for the Green Deal at that date. Other requirements for updating training includes offshore wind farms – there will be a need for skilled people by 2018, so there is a need to start training people now. This highlights questions of whether we can get qualifications fit for purpose, and get them ready through ‘top-up’ training.

New entrants are only a small percentage of the workforce. MCS is one registration scheme that should be utilised to up skill existing workers. But whose responsibility would this be? For example the employee, employer or through a card scheme, but how is this accredited? Perhaps it could form part of the tendering process and contract.

Darren McCann, CCG – Employer case studyDarren gave an overview of CCG – a privately owned construction and manufacturing company with a diverse group structure consisting of construction, doors and windows, property development and roofing and render. The company has invested heavily in off-site manufacturing and modern methods of construction – mainly in the house building market from its factory in Cambuslang. This includes various schemes to improve the efficiency of buildings through new build and retrofit solutions. Darren then went on to explain how green jobs have been created through the various teams of CCG:

Roofing and Render division

CCG is an approved Green Deal and ECO installer, and through the Green Deal and an up-skilling programme PAS2030 accreditation they were able to retain 13 existing staff who would have previously been made redundant and appoint new installers. They are now looking into how to spread the training.

Off-Site Manufacturing (OSM)

The iQ System is a low carbon system that uses off-site manufacturing and concentrates on energy demand reduction. OSM began in 2007 where CCG took over an existing timber company – using their expert skills. Since 2008 the number of staff and turnover has increased illustrating the benefits of this type of construction. OSM

Delivery models for the Green Deal

GREEN JOBS CONFERENCE8we bring people in. But people want to retain traditional views and values. So, how do we balance this with new and innovative technologies? E.g. could we have starter qualifications and top-up with apps on phones?

Q2. Is there much engagement between the industry and secondary schools about low carbon?

PF – There are construction careers advisors; they run a low carbon skills competition, as well as trained construction ambassadors who go into schools. We are currently educating career advisors of the changes.

DA – Scottish Modern Apprenticeship Week 20-25th May. Workshops are being undertaken across Scotland, giving hands on experience and getting women involved in construction.

Q3. There is an expansion of the supply chain – beyond precision construction e.g. better use of indigenous Scottish materials. What is CCG’s view on the ability to adopt less ‘precision-engineered’ trees into schemes and the use of natural insulation products?

DMcC – It is argued that Scottish timber doesn’t have the strength to be a long lasting construction material. However, a pilot project has been undertaken to see if this is true – in partnership with Forestry Commission Scotland and Universities. CCG are considering new ways of using Scottish timber e.g. Cross Laminated Timber (CLT), and this has been used for the first time in Scotland with home grown source in the BRE Visitors Centre; also involved in a pilot project with Scottish Enterprise is being undertaken. We are also looking at alternatives for natural insulation e.g. textile materials.

Lori McElroy – closing remarksLori concluded by acknowledging that green jobs and the green economy is a massive subject with huge issues in delivery terms but also the potential for big opportunities.

When A+DS decided to host an event on green jobs, our main aim was to redress the perception that green jobs are all about renewables and to bring in the notion that any job related to creating sustainable communities and a sustainable economy could have a green element to it.

The topics explored today broadened things out even more than we expected. Four key messages emerged:

1. Opportunities are huge;

2. We have a long way to go;

3. There is a lot being done on the education side to make us green jobs ready – more than I knew - which is encouraging;

4. There is finance available and an appetite to make use of this.

We may consider developing this theme over the next year so watch this space.

All presentations are available on our website www.ads.org.uk/sust/news

tackles climate change through attention to air tightness, fewer vehicle movements and reduced energy-in-use.

The Athletes Village is an example of carbon neutral development. The delivery of houses on this scheme would normally take eighteen months, however with the use of OSM only took five. Additionally two staff were employed as a dedicated design assessor and a design manager to carry out material research. This scheme also used the iQ System of construction.

iQ Building Futures Lab (www.iq-lab.co.uk).

The iQ Building Futures Lab provides CCG and external clients with design guidance and technical support with a focus on low carbon homes.

Windows and Doors

CCG construct timber windows from sustainably sourced timber, historically they bought these in from other suppliers, but recently they have set up their own manufacturing capability. They have also employed an additional member of staff to investigate how to improve the thermal engineering of these products.

Q&A SessionQ1. North Lanarkshire Council, re Multiskilling – we are training people for 4 years and can provide opportunities to up-skill. But how do we create multi-skills?

Darren McCann (DMcC) – We work with CITB and local colleges and ensure they have a transferable skills set e.g. Level 2 and Level 3 with younger staff. We recognise that we need to make jobs interesting.

Phil Ford (PF) – Application programmes are structured in a certain (specialist) area. But we are looking at what an apprentice needs to know about low carbon and energy efficiency. E.g. one thing to consider is how craft workers move into another area? On site qualifications (CSCS) are available. Some trades are protective over their area, but they need to consider reducing these barriers. This is something that needs to be done with industries and colleges

Diane Anderson (DA) – SQA are not technical experts –