Getting staff trained in sustainability tops many company agendas. Noella Pio Kivlehan reports on an online course that launches next week
The recession put a dent in the prospects for many areas of the property sector, but one that has, by common consent, remained sacrosanct is sustainability training. With ever-changing legislation, and more public awareness of sustainability, making sure that staff have the right qualifications in all things green has never been so important.
However, with several schemes on the market offering sustainability training, there has inevitably been confusion over which is the best. This led to calls for the establishment of one accredited course, and the torch was taken up by the Green Building Council, the charitable body set up in February 2007 “to provide clear direction for the whole property sector”.
As a result, UK-GBC launched its research into training and education in June 2009. After 14 months of study and research, and a summer in which 40 people did pilot tests, the Sustainability Training and Education Programme – with its neat acronym STEP – will be launched this Monday (6 September) at the House of Commons. After the pilot study, the first course to be open to the public will be Introduction to Sustainability in the Built Environment. The second, Sustainability Leadership in the Built Environment, will be launched later in the autumn.
The online foundation course, UK-GBC says, is aimed at “any professionals in the built environment who want to make sense of the complexities of sustainability issues”. The first course, of five modules, can be completed in eight hours over a two-week period and allows candidates to dip in and out at their convenience.
GVA Grimley, Lend Lease and Marks & Spencer are already interested in having staff members undertake the courses.
“This is a completely industry-led initiative,” says Chad Harrell, director of operations and business development at UK-GBC. He recalls that the organisation started to get calls as early as September 2008, after the recession had begun, from people in the industry asking about sustainability courses, and how companies and individuals could decide which one was the best. “People wanted leadership and clarity,” he says.
UK-GBC commissioned research into what the industry wanted and got more than 500 responses within three days. Harrell says: “Over 60% of responses came from people outside our membership, who felt that two-thirds of the training out there was rubbish.”
In October 2009, 77 organisations expressed an interest in partnering with UK-GBC on the creation of the courses. It opted to partner with the College of Estate Management for the first one. Harrell says: “We chose CEM to help us with the introduction course because it has experience with virtual learning and because it also runs an online CPD.”
The second course will be partnered by Cambridge University. The Introduction course will be supported by a forum, where students will be able to discuss aspects of the syllabus, while the Leadership course will be face-to-face. Students who score above 70% will achieve a pass certificate, while those who get less than 70% will get a course-completion certificate. UK-GBC hopes that it will have at least 100 people signed for the course by the end of September.
Philippa Gill, a director at Tishman Speyer Properties, who sat on STEP’s task group, says: “Nobody can ever know all there is to know about sustainability, but I was surprised by what I was able to learn with STEP. The course is about giving people enough information and about being thought-provoking, so it will get people thinking differently about sustainability. It is certainly a steep learning curve.”
Course facts
• Course start: courses will run on a fortnightly basis. Delegates will be able to complete their eight hours of learning within a two-week period.
• Prices: UK-GBC members, £199 + VAT; non-members pay £249 + VAT. Negotiation may be possible for company bookings.
• Certification: each delegate will be provided with a downloadable CPD certification of achievement after course completion.
• Booking: for further information, or to book on to the course, contact: www.ukgbc.org/step. Tel: 0444 118 921 4774. E-mail: step@cem.ac.uk
Case study
Angela Collins, senior environmental manager at Lloyds Banking Group
As a senior environment manager, sustainability is very much a key part of my role. I wanted to do the pilot course of STEP because, after working here for 12 years, I changed roles from project manager in facilities management to environmental management last year. Making the move meant I wanted a course that would help me in my new role, but I also wanted to do a course that would help me in my own personal development. For both reasons, STEP came along at an opportune moment.
Doing the course, which was recommended by colleagues who are members of UK-GBC, was a way of educating myself about sustainability, but I also needed to be able to recommend a course to people such as facilities managers. STEP appealed to me because it is online – I could do it in my own time, and I didn’t have to take days off to physically be somewhere else.
The forum is a great idea. As I did the pilot course, only a limited number of people were online, but as a concept it was a fantastic idea because it gave you the opportunity to link up and talk to other people.
I am doing other courses – I have enrolled for an IEMA Environmental Management certificate, but I thought the STEP course was a useful way for me to learn, and I would be interested in any future courses that UK-GBC will run.
noella.pio.kivlehan@estatesgazette.com
