Brownfield Skills Strategy endorsed by professional bodies

Responses to the draft Brownfield Skills Strategy that recently underwent public consultation to gauge sector support for the first strategy of its kind, ihave been published by the Academy for Sustainable Communities (ASC) and national regeneration agency English Partnerships.

The drive to increase regeneration professionals and improve brownfield skills has received widespread support and endorsement from organisations including Construction Skills, Environment Agency, Environment Protection UK, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Academy for Urbanism, Sustainable Homes and the Landscape Institute.

Key themes identified by the consultation process focus on:

• a central fund from Government that would help kick start and support implementation
• skills gaps and bottlenecks that should be addressed and people helped to work smarter, more effectively and more collaboratively to meet changing economic circumstances
•  skills development frameworks being widely welcomed as mechanisms to help identify and develop skills and capability
• support for the development of a brownfield web portal linked to improving knowledge transfer and management systems
• cross-disciplinary working being recognised as essential
• the importance of raising the profile of careers
• brownfield skills terminology being used with care.

Trudy Birtwell, Director of Learning and Skills at ASC, said: 'It’s imperative that we continue to garner cross-sector support and action from public, private and third sectors to address the shortfall of skills needed for the effective reuse of brownfield land. A team approach will ensure the effective deployment of resources to develop skills essential for driving recovery from the recent economic downturn.'

Jane Forshaw, Head of Environmental Policy at English Partnerships, added: 'Workforce skills is a key strand of our recommended overarching national brownfield strategy for England. As such, we wholeheartedly welcome the emerging recommendations outlined in this report, demonstrating the importance of skills as we move forward into the new Homes and Communities Agency.'

The points raised in this consultation will help inform the process of finalising the recommended approach on skills for brownfield land reuse, due to be published in early 2009.