The building services engineering sector is to benefit from a national academy for green technology skills, after SummitSkills secured £3m in government funding for it.
Approval for the bid, led by Summitskills, to create the Building Services Engineering Green Skills Academy was announced by business secretary Lord Mandelson today.

The new national skills academy will co-ordinate skills training in design, installation and maintenance of environmental technologies.

The academy will help transform the ability for businesses in the sector to get the training and skills they will need to meet future increased demand for the installation of renewable and environmental technologies in the UK.

The BSE Green Skills Academy will focus on the following areas of skills development for the sector:

· Design skills: Training in the full planning and installation process for environmental technologies, from the correct design and sizing of the renewable installations, to the best positioning of the product, through to its connection to the existing power and water systems and ongoing control.

· Product knowledge: Delivery of knowledge around specific products and technical issues for each technology.

· Commissioning and Maintenance: The skills for the commissioning, maintenance and service of these technologies post-installation.

· Innovation, entrepreneurship and business development: Developing the confidence of businesses to work with new technologies.

The announcement of the academy, comes on the same day that the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, in its first national strategic skills audit, highlights the critical role the building services engineering sector will play in the installation of the UK's low carbon infrastructure and the need for the sector to improve its skills to meet this challenge.


'The creation of a Building Services Engineering Green Skills Academy is a critical step forward for the BSE sector' said Keith Marshall OBE, chief executive of SummitSkills.

'As the national strategic skills audit highlights today, future jobs and employment in the sector depend on the ability of businesses and employers to develop the skills to deal with the task of fitting the environmental technologies which will be commonplace as the UK meets its commitments to the low carbon agenda.

'This BSE Green Skills Academy will play a key role in ensuring that this skills capability is developed and that the BSE sector can become more proactive in promoting the green agenda to consumers and acting as a trailblazer for green skills.'