Construction Industry Skills Project

The New South Wales Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) and the South Australian Department of State Development (DSD, on behalf of the COAG Energy Council) have worked with members of the residential construction industry to identify the priority knowledge and skill needs of trades and suppliers to deliver energy efficient and National Construction Code (NCC) compliant homes. To address these needs, OEH and DSD have partnered with the Green Building Institute to develop and deliver high-priority education and training to industry members.

OEH and DSD are providing targeted funding to the Green Building Institute to develop cross-industry education and training materials, focussed on energy efficiency, sustainability knowledge and NCC compliance. Resources developed through these projects will be delivered using GBI's award-winning on-line e-learning system and social media.

Builders and trades people currently have insufficient knowledge of how to implement energy efficiency in a cost effective manner. They may be unaware of building science principles and products for energy efficiency, and how easy they can be incorporated into design elements.

For example, GBI has identified that most residential homes do not have insulation installed correctly. By training installers to install insulation correctly, and training builders to check it is installed properly, they hope to make a difference to the thermal performance of Australian homes.

Many educators in the building industry have not been adequately trained in building science principles themselves, and so have not been able to pass on the information. Practitioners in rural and regional areas may not have easy access to sustainable design education or mentors, and most practitioners are too busy to attend training sessions in person. Certificate IV in Building and Construction is currently required for builder’s licensing in most Australian states, but does not have any core units on energy efficiency. This means most builders get licensed with no training in energy efficiency.

The Green Building Institute is bringing together Australia’s leading experts in sustainable building and construction and allowing them to train and mentor the industry one-on-one, anytime, anywhere. GBI is recording their knowledge and ideas, including case studies, and presenting them in a manner which engages, teaches and inspires, using cutting edge instructional design and animation to illustrate complex ideas and offering practical solutions.

This training will be available both as individual units of competency, embedded into building trades apprenticeships, and as part of a ‘green’ building diploma. The training uses new technology to connect participants like never before, using multi-media and social media to bring experts onto their work-site.

"Being tradies and builders ourselves, we understand how tradies learn", says GBI director Daniel Wurm. "We will focus on practical methods to improve energy efficiency, instead of academic theory. We intend to use real-life case studies to demonstrate the practical application of building science principles and sustainability."

The GBI Learning Management System has been purpose built for the building industry, and allows content sharing by any RTO or organisation using the system. The pilot scheme will kick off mid-year, with fully-funded training available for eligible trades people and builders.

For more information on the project, please contact GBI through the web-site www.greenbuilding.org.au

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