Nova Scotia’s Building Trades Unions will be the first in Canada to implement Building It Green – Canada’s most comprehensive climate-focused construction education curriculum.
“Our partners are increasingly incorporating climate considerations in their project plans, and this program will help us ensure we can meet their workforce needs,” says Brad Smith, Executive Director of Mainland Nova Scotia Building Trades, “We’re proud to be the first program up and running in Canada with training for our members.”
Designed to empower trainers, journeypersons, and apprentices, Building It Green is a national union training program to strengthen the construction industry’s ability to meet the challenges of climate change. The program was developed by Canadian Building Trades Unions, with project partners. Building It Green will provide apprentices, trainers, and journeypersons with a deep understanding of how climate change and sustainability intersect with construction and the impact they have on Canada’s future.
“We’re so pleased that Nova Scotia is leading the way and offering skilled trades professionals and apprentices the chance to upgrade their skills to meet climate challenges,” said Jill Balser, Minister of Labour, Skills and Immigration. “There is a tremendous effort underway to build the infrastructure we need, right now, and it is incredible to think these could be built greener for generations to come.”
Building it Green, designed by tradespeople for tradespeople. will be available in over 200 union training centres from coast-to-coast to support Canada’s Building Trades Unions’ employer and contractor partners, as the program rolls out nationally over the coming months.
Together, with SkillPlan, Climate Industry Research Team (CIRT), and Social Research and Demonstration Corporation (SRDC), and through funding provided by Employment and Social Development Canada’s (ESDC) Canadian Apprenticeship Strategy’s Union Training and Innovation Program – Innovation in Apprenticeship, Canada’s Building Trades Unions undertook a multi-year project beginning in 2021 to understand the challenges the construction industry can address in supporting Canada’s ambitious net-zero goals. This program is now coming to fruition.
About the Project
Building It Green is a first-of-its-kind national union training program intended to strengthen the construction industry’s ability to meet the challenges of climate change. The program will be available in over 200 union training centres from coast-to-coast to support Canada’s Building Trades Unions’ employer and contractor partners. The project was guided by an Advisory Committee, encompassing affiliate members of Canada’s Building Trades Unions’ and national training directors from coast-to-coast who shared their expertise throughout the research and curriculum development stages for trade-specific training.
The project was an unprecedented collaboration between Canada’s Building Trades Unions (CBTU), SkillPlan, Social Research and Demonstration Corporation Canada (SRDC), and the Climate Industry Research Team (CIRT).
Building It Green is comprised of four main components:
The Foundation Course
A self-directed online course developed by training instructors and directors across trades, this interactive online climate literacy course adapted for the construction trades and will lay the bedrock for what apprentices, journeypersons, and trainers need to know for sustained delivery on high-performance construction projects.
Train-the-Trainer Workshop
Completed in-person in a one-day course, trades trainers are given the tools they need to integrate climate literacy into their apprenticeship training modules to pass down sustainable skills required to support future tradespeople.
Resource Library
A library of trade-specific learning modules will be available for trainers to support their in-class delivery, including presentation slides, trainer notes, suggested activities and additional resources.
On-the-Job Support
Support for those already working on a job site, including toolbox talks, job aids, and additional resources designed to reinforce trade-specific climate knowledge.
Building It Green is expected to engage and develop over 1,000 trade trainers and 30,000 apprentices, or journeyworkers, providing them with increased construction-specific climate knowledge. A Final Project Report is anticipated in 2025 and will summarize the data collected throughout the pilot phase in addition to evaluate the efficacy and overall impact the Building It Green training has had so far on union members.
For more details please visit:
buildingtrades.ca/workforce-dev/building-it-green
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