CONSTRUCTION AND THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT Building
Skills for the Future
We are one of the construction sector’s biggest Awarding and Assessment Organisations in the UK and internationally. NOCN Group designs construction qualifications, short courses and End Point Assessments in partnership with employers and training providers to meet the sector’s needs, helping to plug vital skills gaps and creating a safer, more productive and better-skilled workforce.
Why work with NOCN Group?
NOCN Group is an educational charity whose core aims are to help learners reach their potential and organisations thrive. The group includes business units specialising in regulated UK and international qualifications, End Point Assessment, assured short courses, SMART job cards, green skills, consultancy and research.
We Influence: We work closely with regulators and governments to influence policy decisions affecting the sector on behalf of the providers we serve.
Apprenticeship End Point Assessment
NOCN is a leading End Point Assessment Organisation. Working with training providers and employers, NOCN ensures that all apprentices have the knowledge, skills and behaviours required for the new employer-led apprenticeship standards.
• Expert Assessment Team, on hand to support employers and providers every step of the way
• Responsive service with fast turnaround of results
• Robust quality procedures, with substantial assurance from sector regulators
• A flexible and cost-effective approach to End Point Assessment fees
• Training sessions, webinars and face-to-face workshops to share best practice advice and guidance for the End Point Assessment process
We Specialise: Our subject matter experts create learning content tailored to meet the future needs of the sectors we operate in.
• End Point Assessors with practical and occupational competence, ensuring quality-first End Point Assessment for each Apprenticeship standard
We Care: We aim to work in partnership with our customers, offering support and training to ensure an excellent learner experience.
We are sustainable: in our pursuit to create long term ecological, social and economic value in all that we do to support the Net-Zero economy through individual actions and organisational strategy and initiatives.
Qualifications
As one of the largest construction sector Awarding and Assessment Organisations in the UK, NOCN delivers construction products and services worldwide.
• Our qualifications range from Entry Level to Level 7 across a range of trade areas, supervisory and management.
• We have a broad range of competence (NVQ) and training qualifications, with alternative routes available for experienced workers and new entrants to the industry.
• Over 90 NVQs and over 271 pathways of specialisms – more than any other AO
• NOCN Level 6 and 7 qualifications approved for membership of CIOB (Chartered Institute of Building).
• Over 80 Training qualifications for full-time learners.
• We offer a flexible partnership approach for employers and training providers.
• Support for core trade, specialist and heritage construction skills, we are committed to providing support for the following trades:
- Bricklaying
- Civils
- Formwork
- Heritage
- Interior fit ting
- Painting and decorating
- Plant, piling and lif ting operations
- Plastering
- Property maintenance
- Roofing
- Steel-fixing
- Trowel trades
- Wood occupations
SiteRight Assured Short Courses
We offer a range of short courses that provide learners with certification to ensure they work safely on-site.
• Improve on-site training, reducing the risks for all workers on-site.
• Standardised, certified training for all staff, for upskilling and refreshing.
• Transferable courses, reducing the need for repeat training.
• Free training resources are included and mandated, for consistent, effective delivery.
• Courses are assessed via theory or practical testing to confirm learning.
• Regularly evaluated and continuously improved courses.
• Built by NOCN Group’s in-house construction qualification specialists
• Developed in partnership with world leading manufacturers, employers, and federations to ensure relevant, practical training.
• Can provide added value and site-readiness for apprentices
• All courses are available in the online Qualification tab linked to CPCS smartcards.
NOCN Job Cards
NOCN Job Cards provide proof that individuals have the required training and qualifications for the type of work they carry out. We currently run the CPCS card scheme and administrate the CISRS card scheme.
CPCS Smartcards
With over 65,000 cards issued annually across more than 64 categories of plant and related occupations, the Construction Plant Competence Scheme (CPCS) is the construction industry’s largest plant card scheme.
CPCS cards help prove people have the skills and knowledge to do their job competently on-site; we do this with:
• Support from Construction Industry Federations, organisations and employers
• Ensuring assessment standards are robust, comprehensive, relevant and up to date
• A dedicated team of Quality Assurance personnel
• Supporting lifelong learning and the maintenance of occupational competency
• Continually reviewing plant categories to ensure the scheme meets the industry and employers’ needs.
CPCS testing and delivery standards are designed to meet the stringent criteria set by the Construction Plant Standard setting body (CITB) and the competency framework set by the Plant Sector Representative Organisation (PSRO) as agreed by the Construction Leadership Council (CLC), which include the following:
• Centre-based testing: Over 90% of our practical tests are taken in purpose-built test centres, ensuring the full range of operations is covered without disrupting a site’s operations.
• One-to-one testing of theory and practical: Provides a more robust basis to test a candidate’s knowledge, experience, and practical skills than group testing.
• Independent testing: Ensures testers are not involved in the candidate’s training and guarantee the independent measure of ability and knowledge.
• Comprehensive question bank: An average of 70 questions per category to further test operators’ depth of knowledge.
• Continued Professional Development: Ongoing development for operators, ensuring their skills and knowledge are up to date.
• Free online support materials: including theory test questions
All CPCS and CISRS Card holders now receive a digital smartcard. These smartcards work through NFC (Near Field Communication) technology, and by tapping the smartcard on any NFC-enabled device – the cardholder’s name, photo, categories/courses, and endorsements will appear.
Smartcards provide high security and authentication for employers; it is far more difficult for criminals to interfere with the system, preventing duplication and fraud. CPCS can also ‘switch off’ a card remotely if it has been compromised, alerting employers to potential fraud.
NFC works by tapping the card on any NFC-enabled device – most modern mobile phones and tablets – the cardholder’s name, photo, categories/courses, and endorsements will automatically appear.
NOCN Group’s SiteRight Assured Short Courses will also appear in a separate qualification tab on the card.
Click here to find out more about NOCN Group Short Courses
CISRS
NOCN Job Cards are responsible for providing scheme administration services to CISRS.
The Construction Industry Scaffolders Record Scheme (CISRS) has been the industry-recognised scaffold training scheme for over 40 years.
It is the preferred scaffolding qualification of all the major organisations, including CSCS, NASC, Build UK, UNITE and the largest scaffold systems manufacturers. Established in the 1960s, the scheme has over 65,000 CISRS card holders in the UK and over 9,000 OSTS card holders overseas.
Click here to find out more about CISRS
Green Skills Consultancy and Research
NOCN Group’s construction products are ALL affected by the sustainability net carbon zero agenda but in different ways.
To help us communicate how our 600+ qualifications, apprenticeships, and courses support the sustainability agenda more efficiently, we have categorised them as light, mid and dark green to recognise the impact of the occupation itself in terms of scale and influence.
We accept that ALL occupations can be done in a more or less sustainable way. Still, the green shades reflect the impact of the occupation itself within the green economy in reducing net carbon NOW.
NOCN is currently working with; The Installation Assurance Authority (IAA), The Retrofit Academy, the Optimised Retrofit Training & Skills Group, City of London Corporation, amongst others, to build the future skills needed for a Carbon Zero economy.
NOCN provides consultancy and research advice in the UK and Internationally for employers, professional bodies and governments.
These consultation services include:
• Design of qualification frameworks
• Assessments and testing
• Certifications
• Quality assurance
• Internal and external verification
• Employer training programme development and endorsement
• Online learning and assessment tools
• Management of training centres’ capabilities and quality
• Training Trainers and Assessors
• Diagnostic reviews of skills gaps and training needs
• Pilot programmes delivery
• Feasibility reports to raise the standards of training centres
• Research on skills policies and systems
Dark Green Skills
• NOCN Cskills Awards Level 2 Award in Understanding Domestic Retrofit
• NOCN Cskills Awards Level 5 Diploma in Retrofit Coordination and Risk Management
• NOCN Cskills Awards Level 3 Award in Energy Efficiency Measures for Older and Traditional Buildings
• NOCN Level 5 Certificate for Certified Energy Efficiency Practitioner –Buildings
• SiteRight Awareness in Hybrid Wall Installation Course
Mid Green Skills
• NOCN Cskills Awards Level 3 NVQ Diploma in Insulation and Building Treatments (Construction) (various pathways)
• NOCN Cskills Awards Level 4 NVQ Diploma in Construction Site Supervision (Retrofit)
• NOCN Cskills Awards Level 6 NVQ Diploma in Construction Site Management (Retrofit)
Light Green Skills
Light green qualifications support people working in occupations that require upskilling so that they can play a role in sustainability and carbon reduction. Our light green qualifications include:
• NOCN Entry Level 3 Award in Energy Efficiency and Sustainability
• NOCN Level 1 Award in Energy Efficiency and Sustainability
L2 and L1 Construction training qualifications have:
• Environmental Awareness and Sustainability in Construction as an optional unit
E3 qualifications have:
• Introducing Environmental Awareness and Sustainability in Construction as an optional unit
By 2030, there could be 694,000 green jobs in the low-carbon and renewable energy sector across EnglandClick
