• Swindon & Wiltshire Education, training and skills
• Friday March 7 2025
• Author Name: Peter Davison

Green Skills Centre to ‘set new standards in sustainable construction’

A new Green Skills Innovation Centre at Wiltshire College & University Centre’s Lackham campus is being developed to give workers in the construction industry the skills required to make homes more sustainable.

More new homes are being built to environmentally friendly standards, featuring solar PV panels, solar thermal heating, air source heat pumps and renewable technology such as electrical storage systems and electric vehicle charging – and the UK needs the skills within the workforce to install sustainable units.

The Green Skills Innovation Centre will train young people looking to start a career in the building industry, along with heating engineers, plumbers and electricians who require new training as demand increases.

College principal Iain Hatt said the college wants to be at the forefront of the training needed.

“We have been fortunate to have received £100,000 through the Wiltshire Council Shared Prosperity Fund to develop our Green Skills Innovation Centre and are in the process of converting an existing building into a purpose-built space at a total cost of £500,000,” he said.

“It’s a really exciting project that will benefit our students on construction apprenticeships and employers across the area.”

The centre will be divided into teaching bays where students can learn how to install sustainable units such as air source heat pumps.

“They will be able to install and commission them and then run fault-finding to see if they are performing properly,” said Steve Gingell, head of faculty, construction and the built environment.

The centre will also have a replica roof at ground level where trained individuals will be able to install and commission solar PV panels and demonstrate how to monitor and understand the energy usage within the home.

The college will offer short courses to construction sector employers who need to develop their plumbing and heating engineers, electricians and builders’ renewable skills as demand grows.

The college is also converting a former residential house at Lackham into an eco-house to act as a showcase for renewable technologies.

It has been developed in partnership with Chippenham-based renewable energy supplier Good Energy, which will use it to train its engineers.