Fruitful meeting with Polish SMEs and associations from the construction sector in Warsaw, January 19th
Future of the construction sector, legislation changes in terms of blue-collar workers’ energy-efficiency skills, partnerships between Polish construction companies and associations, were the most important topics during the meeting in Warsaw on January 19th. ASM Research Solutions Strategy as a host of the event, moderated the discussion to bring the most valuable content for INSTRUCT Project purposes.
During the meeting with Polish SMEs and associations like: Saint – Gobain, Austrotherm, Wiśniowski, Proventuss, Polish Doors and Windows Association, Fakro, Polish Chamber of Construction, Styrofoam Producers Association, and Chairman of the Construction Committee at the Polish Chamber of Commerce, representatives of INSTRUCT project – ASM Market Research and Analysis Centre – had a chance to identify threads and needs of the construction sector in Poland regarding energy-efficiency.
What are the needs?
- the need for site managers qualified in the field of energy efficiency,
- the need for professionally trained installers,
- arousing the need for professional performance in terms of energy among investors and producers,
- multi-faceted integration of the construction market,
- works in the field of energy-saving should be entered in the catalogue of works in the construction log,
- the need for trainings for SMEs,
- the need for a certain field of education at the higher level of education,
- the need for cooperation between companies,
- the need for energy efficiency certificates for the whole building,
- the need for window and door joinery acceptance report,
- the need for legislation changes but possible to implement.
What are the threads?
- The client is more educated than the installer;
- Very high parameters expected by UE – it can limit innovations;
- The market doesn’t need energy efficiency – sth expected from the EU;
- No quality control of products;
- Lack of employees on the market (also qualified employees);
- Lack of awareness in terms of energy efficiency among companies, installers, clients;
These conclusions can influence legislative and educational changes in the construction sector and start the discussion in other European countries, where INSTRUCT project also conduct research on this topic.
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Share your knowledge about digitalization, training, energy, BIM and blockchain!
INSTRUCT is now collecting information about familiarity with digitalization, training, BIM (Building Information Modelling) and blockchain in the construction industry. Answer to this 5-minutes survey will allow us to understand people’s perspectives on the subject, to recognise the importance of the new technology, and to identify the obstacles that must be addressed in order blockchain to be used in the construction sector.
If you want to share your knowledge and support our project, fill in this short questionnaire:
INSTRUCT intends to create a complete operational framework to increase the number of skilled building professionals and blue collar workers over the whole value chain (both for renovations and new constructions), and offer a set of service to support raising awareness of home and building owners and tenants about the benefits of sustainable energy skills, and the public authorities for the development of new legislative frameworks, e.g. requirements for skilled workers in public procurement.
To know more about the project, visit INSTRUCT’s website and follow our social media channels:
INSTRUCT at Enlit Europe in Milan
INSTRUCT partner – R2M Solution – exhibited its collaborative research activities portfolio at Enlit Europe in Milan (Italy) on December 1st 2021
Sustainable Energy Skills in the Construction Sector 2.0 on Sustainable Places 2021
On the 29th of October 10, EU Horizon 2020 sister projects took the chance to meet and talk about potential synergies to stimulate future public and private investments in energy-based habitat renovation.
The European Construction sector faces unprecedented challenges to achieve ambitious energy efficiency objectives, that can be met only if successful training initiatives and supporting policy instruments are put in place, acting as a springboard to stimulate the demand for energy efficiency skills. The objective is to increase the number of skilled building professionals and/or blue-collar workers across the building design, operation, and maintenance value chain (designers, architects, engineers, building managers, technicians, installers, blue-collar workers including apprentices, and other building professionals), with a specific focus on the engagement of SMEs. Recourse to skilled professionals/workers both for renovations and new constructions of buildings and district-scale solutions should be made more attractive and easier for companies and homeowners alike.

These challenges gathered INSTRUCT, BUSLeague, TRAIN4SUSTAIN, HP4All, The nZEB Roadshow, PRO-Heritage, CraftEdu, BIMzeED, ARISE and SEEtheSkills projects on Sustainable Places 2021 conference during 90-minutes workshop: Sustainable Energy Skills in the Construction Sector 2.0, which is the second joint meeting of this group established in May 2021.

Just after the overview of the workshop presented by Mohaddeseh Maktabifard from R2M Solution, we had welcomed Amandine DE COSTER from EU Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). Our special guest had a speech about the BUILD UP Skills initiative, its history since 2011, main focus areas and targets. All projects presented introduction of the learning units and/or training modules developed, target groups, progress, number of trained professional and lessons learned, and future plans as follows:
- INSTRUCT: Ioan Petri, Cardiff University
- BUSLeague: Marion Jammet, Irish Green building Council
- TRAIN4SUSTAIN: Uli Jakob, JER
- HP4All: Padriac O’Reilly, LIT
- The nZEB Roadshow: Dragomir Tzanev, Eneffect
- PRO-Heritage: Gerald Wagenhofer, UBW
- CraftEdu: Jiri Karasek, SEVEn
- BIMzeED: Jose Lucas, ITEC
- ARISE: Paul McCormack, Belfast Met
- SEEtheSkills: Lihnida Stojanovska-Georgievska, UKIM
In the end the discussion was wrapped up with a Q&A session. This event will be followed by the publication on MDPI portal and the next meeting with some of the projects is planned on 14th October 2021 at The Joint Conference CIB W78 – LDAC 2021. Join us there!
Save the date for BIM Skills Workshop, 14th October 2021 at 11.00!
The Joint Conference CIB W78 – LDAC 2021 will take place in Luxembourg between 11-15 October 2021 and is associated with the International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction (CIB), its Working Commission W78 on Information Technology for Construction and the Linked Data in Architecture and Construction research community. This event is organized by the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) in collaboration with Cardiff University (UK) and the European Construction Technology Platform (ECTP).
The 38th CIB W78 conference on Information and Communication Technologies for AECO and the 8th LDAC workshop aim to bring together an international community of researchers and industrials interested in the areas of Construction Informatics, BIM, Digital Twin and Knowledge Management. The scope of the conference is broad in terms of the design, construction and operation and occupancy of constructed facilities, but it primarily relates to the integration and communication of data, information and knowledge in the life cycle of a facility.*
INSTRUCT project along with 3 other sister projects: SeeTheSkills, BIM2TWIN and BIMzED organise a workshop devoted to BIM skills, digital tools in this area, the link between energy efficiency and training in the construction sector, revision of DTC concept and challenges that come with it. Join us by registering HERE!
Date: Thursday, 14 October 2021
Room: Chapelle, Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg
Programme
- 11.00 – Introduction
Łukasz Wilczyński, ASM Market Research and Analysis Centre

- 11.05 – SEEtheSkills
Title: SEEtheSkills actions for increasing the VALUE of energy skills – BIM digital tools as the missing link between energy efficient construction and strive for upskilling – Lihnida Stojanovska-Georgievska, University Ss Cyril and Methodius
Description: Having developed programmes for energy skills and training courses in place that provide certification for building professionals, is usually not enough to increase the interest in trainees and related market demand. In fact actions for increasing the value of skills are necessary. SEEtheSkills as H2020 action, supports the initiative for reinforcing the link between skills and energy quality of construction, through presenting the benefits of employing skilled workers, that will promote the value of energy skills by presenting their role in energy sustainability of buildings. A promising tool to be used are digital BIM tools, which can furthermore by using BIM modelling, propose various scenarios for reduction of performance gap with implementing corresponding energy efficiency measures.

- 11.20 – INSTRUCT
Title: Digital Technologies to Advance Energy Efficiency Trainings & Education in the Construction Sector
Irini Barbero, Cardiff University
Description: The presentation will look into demonstrating the link between energy efficiency and training in the construction sector, in the EU. The main objective is to evidence the necessary prerequisites for developing digital instruments required to coordinate efforts for delivering energy efficiency education.

- 11.35 – BIM2TWIN
Title: Digital Twin Construction – A New Paradigm – Rafael Sacks, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology
Description: Digital Twin Construction (DTC) is a paradigm for the construction industry in which production is planned and controlled with the support of extensive data collected from the supply chains and the site which provides comprehensive situational awareness for all. In theory, better situational awareness, i.e. knowing what is happening on and off site with great detail, supports better decisions by people when it comes to making changes to the production system on site. This presentation will review the concept of DTC, explain its various components and the potential for platform businesses to emerge to manage production in projects according to DTC principles and technologies.

- 11.55 – BIMzED
Title: BIMzeED – Education for Nearly zero-energy buildings using Building Information Modelling
Srećko Vrček, North-West Croatia Regional Energy Agency (REGEA)
Description: The BIMzeED project focuses on the training needs for the current and future construction industry with the main purpose to encourage: 1) better employability, 2) low-carbon growth, 3) green and NZEB skills, 4) increase in youth employment. The BIMzeED project developed and will pilot 12 Learning Units within the aim of increasing understandings of BIM/NZEB within existing construction training curricula. BIMzeED will train and up skill 120 educators at European HEIs and VETs by piloting the new learning resources and training materials. Also, BIMzeED will pilot 12 Learning Units with 400-500 construction students, site managers, craftworkers and other experienced operatives therefore improving their employability. The project developed an E-Learning Portal that has access through the BIMzeED project website.
- 12.10 – Q&A session
- 12.20 – Wrap up and conclusions
Main organiser and contact:
- Agnieszka Mikołajczyk, International PR Manager, ASM Market Research and Analysis Centre
Registration
- Included in the conference registration fee (you can use one-day registration if you wish to attend only the workshop and the other events on a single day)