More than 200 people attended the hybrid conference on "The challenges of sustainable construction", held last 17th December, at Fundación Estatal para la Formación en el Empleo (Fundae), as part of the final dissemination event of the Construye 2020+ project, part of the Horizon 2020 programme.

Experts highlighted as key challenges the importance of public-private collaboration, improving the image of the sector, showing young people the friendly face of the sector, more Vocational Training adapted to companies, bringing construction closer to the reality of SMEs and showing society, in a clear and simplified way, the European aid provided by the Next Generation funds.

The professional meeting, in a face-to-face and virtual format to adapt to healthcare circumstances, featured speakers from the fields of Public Administration, social agents, the business world and training and employment, who participated from Fundae's headquarters, and was broadcast live via streaming.

Throughout the day, the challenges in terms of sustainability, digitalisation and industrialisation set by the European Union's Agenda 2030 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals were addressed. In addition, the results achieved by the Construye 2020+ project were presented and proposals were offered by experts from the fields of Public Administration, social agents, the business world and training and employment, to address the impact that European funds will have on the construction sector.

Example of a public-private partnerships

Antonio de Luis Acevedo, managing director at Fundae, welcomed the attendees and opened the conference by stressing that: "The challenges we face today cannot be addressed only by public administrations, large companies, trade unions and employers' organisations, but by all of us. We have to generate meeting points. It is vital to generate strategic alliances, such as the one that has taken place in this project to tackle digital transformation", he added.

Construye 2020+ "is an example of a public-private and public-public collaboration. The project has been pioneering because it has foreseen the need for training a long time in advance. We have a deficit of professionals and we have to be able, all the actors, to try to cover this need. We have to generate meeting points," stressed De Luis Acevedo.

Julio Gil Iglesias, General Director at Fundación Laboral de la Construcción, then stressed that, "with the measures that the European Commission has studied for all sectors, it will be possible to move towards a more sustainable economy by 2030; the construction sector must be at the centre of this challenge”. He recalled the challenges of the sector adding that, "within the Recovery Plan for Europe, through the Next Generation funds, construction has become one of the leading sectors and main driving forces of the European economy".

Challenges for the construction sector

In the inaugural conference, "Training towards sustainability, digitalisation and industrialisation", Javier González López, Training and Employment director at Fundación Laboral de la Construcción, advanced that "construction is a strategic and resilient sector, lacking, at the moment, in manpower but, at the same time, a sector that is creating employment".

He also recalled that, according to the Government's Plan, "1.2 million homes need to be renovated by 2030. If we want to meet this objective, 120,000 building projects should be started every year, and the number of building permits currently issued would have to be increased fivefold in order to meet this challenge". Another problem, at the moment, is the lack of young people joining the sector: "Five years ago we had more young people, but now there are only 18 % of young people interested in the sector. We are an ageing sector, with no replacement rate and there is no continuity in the family business", he lamented.

"The paradox is that construction creates as well as demands employment; at a time when there is 40 % youth unemployment and when, according to Confederación Nacional de la Construcción (CNC), we will need more than 700,000 workers in the coming years", pointed out Javier González López, who quantified that "40 % of those who access energy refurbishment jobs will need training, meaning that some 75,320 professionals will require training in this area between now and 2030".

Construye 2020+ results

The project partners then presented the initiative, its development and showed the results obtained in each of the facets that have been addressed. Esther Rodríguez Arévalo, Construye 2020+ head and International Projects technician at Fundación Laboral de la Construcción, the entity that has led and coordinated the project, explained that the efforts of this European initiative "are aimed at training and promoting the advantages" of energy efficiency and emphasised that, "we have achieved collaborative working groups, with the same common objective, which is exactly what the European Union is aiming for".

Then, Sofía Gutiérrez Dewar, from Institutional Relations Unit Fundae, in charge within the project of the implementation of the training roadmap for sustainable construction, explained the application of the "Quintuple Helix method" used in the programme, thanks to which "we have created an exchange network to promote sustainable development in the construction sector, and in which business organisations, trade unions, NGOs, consumer and user organisations, among others, have been integrated".

José Antonio Tenorio Ríos, senior scientist at Instituto de Ciencias de la Construcción Eduardo Torroja (IETCC) of Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), went on to detail the role of his organisation in the consortium, which has allowed them "to be very close to the sector, specifically in the collaboration with SMEs and the gestation of course content focused on training and digitalisation of the sector".

Cristina Verde Ramis, project manager in the Sustainability team of the Circular Economy Group at Centro de Investigación de Recursos y Consumos Energéticos (Circe), focused on explaining the system of validation of technical knowledge in sustainable construction, which resulted in the eco badge, which aims to "give special visibility to those professionals who have knowledge and skills in sustainable construction". This badge can be obtained through training in the Construye 2020+ energy efficiency courses.

María Vidal González, Instituto de Robótica y Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (IRTIC) researcher at Universidad de Valencia, focused on the more technological part of the project, with the development of the online courses. To this end, she said, "we have supported learning with more visual and practical aspects and have created interactive resources to enhance learning".

Finally, Luis Jiménez López, Management Service of the Observatory head at Instituto Nacional de las Cualificaciones (Incual) belonging to the Education and Vocational Training Ministry, explained the role of his organisation in ensuring that the professional qualification in energy auditing is finally approved by the government, either via a vocational training qualification or a certificate of professionalism.

European funds and their impact on construction

To conclude, a round table discussion was held on the impact on the construction sector of the European Next Generation funds, moderated by Laura Castela Ávila, Digital Transformation, Communication and Strategic Alliances Director at Fundación Laboral de la Construcción.

Maru Menéndez González-Palenzuela, Active Employment Policies deputy director general at Servicio Público de Empleo Estatal (Sepe), recalled that "Spain has already met the 52 milestones for the first disbursement and we are going to receive 10 billion euros".

According to Dolores Huerta Carrascosa, Green Building Council Spain (GBCe) director general, which has been promoting sustainable building for 10 years, "10 % of European funds are earmarked for building renovation". She added: "We will need to train a lot of people. There will be work in the sector for the next 30 years”.

Mª del Puy Jiménez Fernández-Sesma, Employment head at Fundación Laboral de la Construcción, stressed that "we must have public-private collaboration, with all the entities that work in employment, under a common language". On the other hand, he stated that "the construction sector has had a problem for years in terms of attracting talent and difficulty in achieving generational change".

For Javier Alonso Madrid, Atanga Arquitectura 5.0 CEO, "Vocational Training in Spain needs to be made more attractive".  With regard to the Next Generation funds, Alonso hopes that their application will be "practical, simplified and direct, and that they will reach all types of companies, not just large ones, as well as the general public".

About the Construye 2020+ Project:

Since June 2018, Fundación Laboral de la Construcción has been leading the European project Construye 2020+, belonging to the Horizon 2020 programme, until its completion in December this year. Along with the joint entity, five other Spanish partners are participating: Instituto de Ciencias de la Construcción Eduardo Torroja belonging to Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC); Fundación Estatal para la Formación en el Empleo (Fundae); Instituto Nacional de las Cualificaciones (Incual), under Education and Vocational Training Ministry; Centro de Investigación de Recursos y Consumos Energéticos (Circe); and Instituto de Robótica y Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (IRTIC), part of Universidad de Valencia.