New analysis on skills needs for the construction sector in Europe

Results

Construction Blueprint takes a further step towards a new strategy on sectoral competences in Europe, in terms of energy efficiency, digitalisation and circular economy.

Last November, the Construction Blueprint partnership presented a report on the ‘Skills Needs Analysis’ of the construction sector in Europe, which identifies the skills that construction workers should have to meet the needs of energy efficiency, circular economy and digitalisation. In addition, it identifies other skills related to occupational health and safety, as well as other transversal competences.

The document was drawn up with the support of more than thirty experts in the sector from Spain, Germany, Belgium, Slovenia, France, Finland, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Lithuania, Portugal and Poland, who helped to specify the competences required, by country, in each of the areas mentioned above.

The main objective of the report has been to obtain an overview of which skills are currently needed in the sector and which will be needed in the near future, in order to support training institutions in designing their training pathways. It has also contributed to the development of a specific training programme, which will be tested during 2022 in all countries of the initiative.

Among the conclusions highlighted in the report is that the sector must adapt to new national and European policies or initiatives in order to achieve the required ecological and digital transition. This in turn demands a range of skills from the construction workforce. In this sense, there is a current trend towards technological advances, off-site manufacturing, climate change and collaborative skills, among others.