CONSTRUCTION BLUEPRINT 2 - Strategic Alliance for skills development under the Pact for Skills for the Construction sector

Brief description and main aims:

Construction Blueprint 2 is a four-year initiative which is built upon the success of the initialConstruction Blueprint project (2018–2023). The new project aims to enhance skills in the construction sector, focusing on energy efficiency, circular economy, and digitalisation and to develop a series of sectoral actions to address current and future knowledge developments across the EU. Three main talent and skills development needs have given rise to this action:

• Urgency to accelerate innovative processes in digitalisation.

• Supporting the transition to a circular and greener economy by upgrading and/or designing training programmes to address these new emerging green skills.

• Boosting the adoption of new technologies in the construction sector, a significant economic sector in the EU.

The overall objective of the project is to create a new strategic approach and cooperation schemeinvolving key actors implicated in the construction sector, with the aim of developing concretesolutions for skills development that contribute to the implementation of the “Pact for Skills”, one of the main initiatives of the EU Skills Agenda, calling for sustainable competitiveness, social equity and resilience.

A consortium of 20 organisations from 10 European countries will collaborate to design and deliver tailored training programs for Vocational Education Training (VET) and High Education (HE), upgrade CVET (Construction VET), and develop a skills strategy for the construction industry. They will also enhance the Construction Skills Observatory, launch a web application for accessible training resources, and identify emerging skills essential for the sector.

Why FIEC is dealing with this topic:

The project specifically addresses the European Commission’s initiative “Pact for Skills”; launched in the framework of the EU Skills Agenda with the aim to support public and private organisations with regards to up- and reskilling the labour force in Europe. The EU sectoral social partners of the construction industry, FIEC and EFBWW (European Federation of Builders and Wood Workers), in cooperation with EBC (European Builders Confederation), launched the “Pact for Skills” for the construction sector in 2022. In the context of labour and skills shortages in construction, this initiative calls for concrete commitments by stakeholders at all levels. It aims at mobilising a concerted effort amongst private and public actors for quality investment in vocational education and training, as well as in knowledge, skills and competences to the benefit the European construction sector workforce.

Under the “Pact for Skills” in Construction, the results of Construction Blueprint 2 will make a contribution to the work of all signatories of the Pact. This will provide resources and tools on skills in the construction sector, strategies for skills development in the framework of the green and digital transition, skills profiles in need of further training programmes and the planning of their implementation in the medium and long term.

The Work Package 2 of the Blueprint 2 project is dedicated to the implementation of the “Pact for Skills” and is coordinated by FIEC, EFBWW and EBC.