To meet the scale and ambition of the government’s targets, we need people who are equipped with the right skills, supported by data and technology and driven by a shared sense of purpose, claims RLB’s Chief Executive for UK & Europe, Andrew Reynolds, in a recent article published by PBC Today.
UK has committed to creating 1.5m new homes in its parliamentary term and has ambitious environmental targets, including reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and reducing emissions from public sector buildings by 50% by 2032 and 75% by 2037.
The skills gap: The elephant in the room
These targets are all well and good, and as an independent consultancy working across the private and public sectors, we recognise our part in how we can help achieve them. But let’s talk about the elephant in the room: the 140,000 skilled workers that are needed to meet these targets and the development of new skills, such as digital and sustainability, to upskill our industry and make us future fit.
Embedding digital, sustainability and ESG at the core
We recognised that every team member, whatever role and level, needs to be equipped with digital and sustainability and ESG skills.
Likewise, carbon education and literacy have become a core skill for all our client-facing employees. Our sister company, RLB Digital, which specialises in information management and wider digital solutions for our clients, is now integrated into our service offering and we have more holistic sustainability and ESG teams that work with stakeholders including investors and fund managers to highlight risk profiles, as well as those responsible for estates.
New roles are emerging weekly with data analysts for our data warehouse, PPP contract advisory roles, and those proficient and educated in the latest built environment governance, like the impact of the Building Safety Act and mandatory legislation.
Diversity of thought and human intelligence
This means being diverse in our recruitment process, bringing in those not just with traditional experience and skillsets within the built environment but those who are diverse in their outlook, background and thinking, to be able to understand and engage the communities where we operate. It means looking past those with just high IQs to those who also possess high emotional (EQ) and social intelligence (SQ).
Changing the narrative
I have worked in the built environment for over three decades and still wake up excited by the innovation and evolution of the industry. From the bricks and mortar that makes up my house, to the roads and rails that take me to work, to the amazing engineering of The Shard where RLB is based – the built environment is around me, pretty much every moment, every day.
The future of the built environment depends on our ability to invest in talent, embrace diversity of thoughts and reframe our industry as one that shapes lives and communities. If we get that right, the built environment will not only rise to the challenge ahead, it will define a better future for generations to come.
This is an abridged version of an article that first appeared in PBC Today.
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