· Over 50 leading built environment firms sign the ‘Future Skyline Skills Commitment’ to drive Net Zero transition
· UK Construction firms will boost training and supply of green skilled workers
· Industry must create 350K new roles by 2028 to reach Net Zero by 2050
The Corporation’s Skills for a Sustainable Skyline Taskforce has, today, launched its new skills industry pledge, to incentivise the UK’s built environment industry to ramp up recruitment and retention of young and diverse people entering the green jobs market.
Aiming to boost the supply of skilled workers needed to deliver Central London’s sustainable commercial buildings and beyond, the Future Skyline Skills commitment is seen as a crucial endeavour, both to ensure that London’s office buildings and infrastructure remain competitive and sustainable on the global stage, whilst also meeting national net-zero targets. The Commitment is also open to all UK built environment firms, including those active in delivering green housing.
Over 50 of the UK’s leading construction firms have already signed up to the commitment, including JLL, the Construction Industry Training Board, Mace and Brookfield Properties. The Commitment empowers main contractors, subcontractors, client teams and further education (FE) providers to recruit and train new entrants.
The Future Skyline Commitment includes a choice of four levels, to reflect signatory firms’ different stages of progress towards this aim and will be hosted on the Taskforce’s Skyline Skills Hub for green skills best practice*.
The Commitment includes asks around:
- Build: Promoting more inclusive, safe and welcoming working environments to retain workers.
- Inspire: Engaging with young people to promote career and training opportunities in the built environment.
- Lead: Directly employing, training and nurturing new, untrained talent.
- Strengthen: Collaborating with other employers to address broader sectoral skills challenges, including fostering collaboration on wider awareness of built environment jobs and apprenticeships.
The Corporation launched the Skills for a Sustainable Skyline Taskforce in 2022 to bring together built environment leaders to collectively tackle Central London’s green skills shortages across its commercial real estate.
Over 350 organisations from across the built environment sector actively support the Taskforce by contributing their time, insights, and practical expertise.
To better understand the current green skills landscape, the Skyline Taskforce published its evidence base – the Skyline Skills Recommendations Report – in 2023. The recommendations included multiple solutions to addressing London’s commercial green skills gap which are reflected in the Future Skyline Skills commitment.
Chairman of the Skills for a Sustainable Skyline Taskforce and Sheriff of the , Deputy Keith Bottomley, said:
“With the built environment sector one of the largest contributors to global carbon emissions, it is vital that we train our young people to be able to deliver the green infrastructure of the future. This commitment, developed by the Corporation and the Skills for a Sustainable Skyline Taskforce, empowers the built environment industry to shape a sector that is sustainable, inclusive and future-ready.
“The built environment industry is more than just bricks and mortar; it is about people, progress, and possibility. By aligning expectations with capacity, we can support more meaningful engagement, reduce friction, and build the kind of workforce legacy the industry talks about, but often struggles to deliver.”
Associate Director for Social Value at Mace Construct, Fiona Henderson, said:
“Mace Construct is wholeheartedly committed to the Future Skyline Skills pledge and showcasing industry best practice for sustainability skills across Central London’s commercial built environment. We’re proud to be delivering on this commitment already, hiring many young people so that we can upskill, reskill and diversify the skilled workers we need to make sustainability real.
“We believe that, through collaboration, we can drive forward the green skills agenda to ensure that London has a skilled and diverse workforce, equipped and empowered to deliver globally competitive, sustainable office buildings.”
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