GREEN SKILLS WILL CREATE A TRULY SUSTAINABLE FUTURE WORKFORCE

by Cath Murray-Howard Chief Operating Officer, Torus Group

One of the biggest winners in last month’s Spending Review was undoubtedly social housing with the funding announcement of £39 billion over 10 years to build hundreds of thousands of much-needed homes across the country.

This follows Liverpool City Region being awarded £80m of Warm Homes funding in March to make 10,000 properties more energy efficient and tackle fuel poverty. At Torus we will build in the region of 1,200 homes in the next financial year, start retrofitting 900 more properties having already treated 600 and continue investing in our existing stock so it meets Energy Performance Certificate level C or above.

Collectively, this naturally generates demand for green skills and given the scale, provides a great opportunity to futureproof the region’s workforce.

The construction-related labour shortage is well known so at Torus we are taking an ‘apprentice first’ approach with an ecofocus wherever possible.

To direct our plan we have created a new Energy and Sustainability Lead role and as part of a recent recruitment drive, held discussions with local colleges on green energy and how it fits into the curriculum. Further afield at Peel Hall in Warrington, we are building 1,200 sustainable homes with strong social value at the heart. Construction bootcamps held in partnership with Warrington and Vale Royal College were at full capacity so four more are being planned including a specialist green camp.

Low carbon careers are far-reaching including procurement, design, modelling, construction, maintenance and energy performance monitoring to name just a few, all of which will allow us to create a thriving green economy.

Or, in the Liverpool City Region with the River Mersey and canal network, a bluegreen economy.

An example of this is our hydropower Hartley Locks scheme in Lightbody Street, north Liverpool that uses Leeds-Liverpool Canal water to generate heating and hot water for the 195 new properties we are about to complete.

These examples demonstrate that housing associations as anchor institutions in communities are perfectly placed to provide tenants and residents with a clear pathway to gaining green skills that will help them forge sustainable, lifelong careers all while helping us tackle the climate emergency.

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