Firms line up to enroll on green building course

Some of the UK's best known firms are queuing up to bolster their understanding of the expanding green building sector by enrolling employees on the industry's first accredited online training course.

The UK Green Building Council (GBC) will officially launch a foundation phase of the Sustainability Training and Education Programme (STEP) on September 6, and the organisation is hoping to initially enroll over 100 students on the course.

A number of leading construction and retail firms have already expressed interest in the course, including Marks & Spencer, Lenleys, Willmott Dixon, GVA Grimley and Cushman & Wakefield.

"There's a wide variety of companies looking to commit double digits to triple digits of their employees to go on this course right away and we're hoping to make an announcement on September 6 of exactly how many," said GBC director of operations and business development Chad Harrell. "For example, GVA Grimley has 24 brand new graduate students that have just come on board and they're talking with us about getting all 24 on the course simultaneously."

GBC hopes these initial in-take will encourage other firms to follow suit and enrol staff on the course.

The virtual course has been designed by The College of Estate Management (CEM) and will give students two weeks access to a website and online forum that will help them complete the five-module syllabus and final assessment.

Topics covered in the introductory course include government legislation, green building theory, risk and analysis, and the business case for sustainable building.

"We tried not to over do the chest-beating that sometimes accompanies the scenarios being played out," explained CEM's head of sustainability and course author Stephen Bickell. "There's a lot of flamboyance about sustainability, particularly around the design side of things and we wanted to make practical, r ealistic steps."

The course is targetted at people with a limited knowledge of sustainability, ranging from construction employees to amateur DIYers. However, GBC predicts that even people well-versed in green construction will find the assessment challenging.

The pilot phase of the project saw a pass rate of just 82 per cent, even though the majority of students were already working in the sustainability sector.

"To me that highlights an opportunity," said Harrell. "It demonstrates to businesses that there's still a lot of learning to be done."

The course will cost GBC members £199 to sign up, while non-members will be charged £249. GBC said that it is considering offering reduced rates for public sector workers.