PAUL McCormack, programme manager of the Belfast Met-led EU digital construction project Arise, will make a presentation in Brussels to a key European upskilling audience to help mark 2023 European Year of Skills.
The Architects Council of Europe (ACE) and the European Association for Architectural Education are co-organising a one day conference on April 20 which will include an address from Oya Atalay Franck, president of the European Association for Architectural Education.
The ‘New European Bauhaus-Upskilling (Education and Practice)' public conference will be web streamed live from the ACE website.
The day will show how architectural research and education can activate ecosystems that address the challenge of climate change. There will also be a speech from Themis Christophidou, director general for education, youth and sports at the European Commission.
There has been an increase in the demand for energy skills in construction which Arise promotes. This Belfast Met led EU project has nine European partners and encourages a new hybrid way of learning while creating a digital mobile curriculum.
Both white collar and blue collar workers can benefit from adopting the Arise micro modules. This new form of accreditation has taken the input of key construction figures across Europe directed by Belfast Met and helped support upskilling on the topics of energy efficient buildings and Building Information Modelling (BIM).
The training and transaction system developed by Arise will reward learners as they achieve competence at a certain level with the cryptocurrency for skills exchange-CERTcoin.
Mr McCormack said: “As we strive to reduce the carbon footprint of the built environment, we must develop a new energy/skills landscape populated with a skilled and trained workforce capable of ensuring the sector meets the ambitious carbon reduction targets.
“We must use the advantages of digitalisation to accelerate the upskilling and retraining of the existing workforce and deliver a huge wave of digitally informed and empowered training for the new workers entering the workforce to sustain the growth and transformation of construction to net zero.
“The Arise project is not just about adopting new technologies. It promotes a complete cycle adaption, changing of mindsets, behaviours and values of the built environment.
“In order to reduce the Co2 footprint of construction, workers need the support of a skills environment that reinforces a culture of innovation, encourages creativity, collaboration, and experimentation, delivering task- and impact-based training in bite size chapters.”
