BUILD UP Skills – Upskilling and reskilling interventions enabling a decarbonised building stock and energy system integration

Topic description

Objective:

Launched in 2011, the BUILD UP Skills initiative^[1] is supporting the upskilling of building professionals across Europe, to deliver building renovations offering high energy performance as well as new nearly Zero-Energy Buildings (nZEBs). This effort needs to be sustained through the rollout of ambitious training and qualification interventions aligned with the EU Green Deal, the EU’s 2030 climate objectives as well as the EU’s long-term strategy of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.

The main objective is to increase the number of skilled building professionals at all levels of the building design, operation and maintenance value chain. The focus is on the skills needed to enable the Clean Energy Transition, in particular the EU Renovation Wave, the EU Solar Energy Strategy^[2], the Communication on Digitalising the Energy System – EU action plan^[3], as well as the implementation of the provisions on skills as part of the Fit-for-55 package^[4].

The topic is in line with the Pact for Skills in construction which plans to upskill and reskill overall at least 25% of the workforce of the construction industry in the next 5 years, to reach the target of 3 million workers.^[5] In addition, the topic aims to leverage synergies with the upcoming initiatives on digital skills for the energy transition addressed in the framework of the Communication on Digitalising the Energy System.

Proposals should develop, test, validate and prepare the deployment of new and/or the upgrade of existing training and qualifications for all types of professionals involved in the building value chain ('blue collars' and/or 'white collars' professionals), as well as for professionals active in other sectors than buildings renovation. To ensure a successful deployment phase, the proposed training and qualification schemes should be tailored to the specificities of the national markets targeted.

The main focus of proposals should be on continuous vocational education and training (or professional training) of professionals, i.e. after their initial, compulsory education and training or after they have entered working life. This includes the retraining of professionals from other sectors with skills transferable to construction and building renovation. Proposals are also encouraged to address other parts of education and training (e.g. initial education and training, higher education), provided this is justified based on needs detected in the countries targeted.

All professional profiles involved in the building value chain, at all educational levels (European Qualification Framework levels 1-8) can be validly addressed. Proposals do not need to address all profiles and educational levels but should clearly justify the choice of the profile(s) and educational level(s) targeted.

The proposed action should address one of the following thematic areas:

1. Skills development and deployment supporting the implementation of core provisions of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), covering one or several of the following:

• skills for carrying out building energy audits, including assessment and advice for preparing buildings to operate at low temperature and integrate heat pumps.
• skills for inspections of heating, air conditioning and ventilation systems.
• skills to deliver renovation passports.
• skills enabling to leverage accessibility, fire safety, and/or seismic safety interventions for energy efficiency improvements.

2. Skills development and deployment supporting the decarbonisation of the building stock, covering one or several of the following:

• skills for delivering building deep renovation, including through modular and industrialised solutions.
• skills for new and existing nearly Zero Energy Buildings (nZEBs) and bridging the gap towards Zero Emission Buildings (ZEBs).
• skills related to whole life carbon (via the assessment of Global Warming Potential), circular construction and resource efficiency, and leveraging the Level(s) framework.
• digital skills supporting greater energy performance of buildings, in particular through an enhanced use of Building Information Modelling.
• skills for upgrading the smartness of buildings for greater energy performance (based on the Smart Readiness Indicator), looking in particular at sensors, building controls and building management systems.

3. Skills development for small-scale renewable energy deployment and energy system integration, covering one or several of the following:

• skills to increase the workforce of trained installers and maintenance staff, in particular for onsite solar systems; measures focusing on the identification of skills gaps in companies along the value chains combined with targeted trainings.
• upskilling for energy systems related digitalisation to allow energy management in homes, buildings and energy communities, i.e. covering several buildings or larger areas and districts (to facilitate system integration via electrification of buildings and transport, linking smart appliances, smart recharging with demand response and storage etc.)

4. Development and delivery of innovative on-site training methods (especially for on-site workers/ craftspeople) as part of renovation projects, in cooperation with product manufacturers. Actions should focus on the skills needed to carry out deep renovation. The proposed methods should help address one of the main barriers to upskilling, i.e. the lack of time from companies and professionals to enrol in upskilling activities. The proposed training should ultimately facilitate the cooperation and understanding between different crafts and professions, and support a holistic vision of the building and of renovation works.

5. Skills development and deployment for the implementation and effective operation of integrated home renovation services (or one-stop-shops), providing coordinated and coherent responses to the needs of building owners at each step of their renovation journey: from technical and social diagnosis, technical offer, obtaining permits, finding qualified professionals, contracting of works, structuring and provision of finance (e.g. loans), facilitating access to available subsidies or other support schemes, to the monitoring of works and quality assurance.

Regardless of the thematic area addressed, proposals should:

• provide details on the actual scope and content of the training and qualification schemes to be developed/upgraded, e.g. professional profiles and levels in the European Qualification Framework targeted; thematic coverage; duration of the training; validation mechanisms.
• include activities ensuring the recognition of trained and qualified professionals.
• include train-the-trainer activities.
• include a testing and validation phase for the new or upgraded qualification schemes developed; this testing and validation phase should take place during the project lifetime. It will take the form of training sessions for building professionals, during which participants will trial and test the draft qualification scheme, the curriculum, the training materials as well as the recognition mechanisms developed within the project. The testing and validation phase should involve a representative number of trainees, based on the size of the targeted sector(s) in the countries involved. After the training sessions, feedback collected from the trainees should be used to validate and/or further improve the qualification and training schemes developed within the action. Infrastructure costs for developing new or upgrading existing training facilities will not be considered eligible.
• include activities to develop a strategy ensuring that the proposed schemes will be scaled up and sustained after the end of the project, linking to available sources of funding at national and EU level.

Proposals are also expected to include activities to engage relevant institutions in the field of energy, climate, education, employment, social and industrial policies. Applicants should notably foresee activities to engage employers, trade unions as well as education and training providers in order to ensure that training programmes and curricula are labour market-relevant and proactively integrate emerging skills.^[6]

Proposals are expected to support the work done within the European Construction Blueprint^[7] which focuses on vocational education and training primarily for ’blue-collar’ professionals up to level 5 in the European Qualification Framework. The proposed activities are also expected to align with and support the “Pact for Skills in Construction" by the EU sectoral Social Partners, EFBWW and FIEC in cooperation with EBC as part of the European Skills Agenda.

Proposals may be submitted by a single applicant from a single eligible country.

The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU in the range of EUR 1 million to EUR 1.5 million would allow the specific objectives to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.

• For actions related to Skills development activities for renewables and waste heat-based district energy networks, please refer to topic LIFE-2023-CET-DHC.
• For actions related to Skills development activities for deployment of heat pumps, please refer to topic LIFE-2023-CET-HEATPUMPS.

Proposals should present the concrete results which will be delivered by the activities, and demonstrate how these results will contribute to the topic-specific impacts. This demonstration should include a detailed analysis of the starting point and a set of well-substantiated assumptions, and establish clear causality links between the results and the expected impacts.

Proposals submitted under this topic should demonstrate how they will contribute to an increased uptake of sustainable energy skills along the building value chain.

Proposals should quantify their results and impacts using the indicators provided for the topic, when they are relevant for the proposed activities. They should also propose indicators which are specific to the proposed activities. Proposals are not expected to address all the listed impacts and indicators. The results and impacts should be quantified for the end of the project and for 5 years after the end of the project.

The indicators for this topic include:

• Number of qualification schemes developed or upgraded and tested.
• Number of professionals with increased qualifications and the level of the European Qualification Framework (EQF).
• Number of trained professionals.
• Number of trained trainers.
• Number of requalified professionals and the level of the EQF.

Proposals should also quantify their impacts related to the following common indicators for the LIFE Clean Energy Transition subprogramme:

• Investments in sustainable energy (energy efficiency and renewables) triggered by the project (cumulative, in million Euro).
• Primary energy savings triggered by the project (in GWh/year).
• Renewable energy generation triggered by the project (in GWh/year).
• Reduction of greenhouse gases emissions (in tCO₂-eq/year).

[1]https://build-up.ec.europa.eu/en/bup-skills

[2]COM(2022) 221 final.

[3]COM(2022) 552 final.

[4]Proposal for a Directive on energy efficiency (recast) COM(2021) 558 final; Proposal for a Directive amending Directive (EU)2018/2001 as regards the promotion of energy from renewable sources; COM(2021) 557 final; Proposal for a Directive on the energy performance of buildings (recast), COM(2021) 802 final.

[5]https://ec.europa.eu/social/BlobServlet?docId=25235&langid=en.

[6]https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1530&langId=en

[7]https://constructionblueprint.eu