Targeted training to drive the Green Technology revolution

South Gloucestershire and Stroud College is about to enter the brave new world of training for retrofitting and renewable energy.

After winning £450,000 through Stroud District Council from the Gloucestershire Strategic Economic Development Fund, and over £700,000 via the Department for Education Strategic Development Fund, plus £150,000 from the West of England Combined Authority (Weca) to deliver Green Technologies Skills camps, SGS is creating the Berkeley Low Carbon Training Centre.

It will all be based on its campus at Berkeley and will train apprentices and upskill those working or who wish to work in the renewable energy sector.

They will include installers and specifiers for solar, heat pumps and retrofitting for homes.

The new centre will also have a trailblazer role in developing training courses and materials that can be utilised by other training centres to expand capacity.

SGS principal, Sara-Jane Watkins, said: “There are lots of well-meaning individuals in the region where they have all got an interest in climate emergency but nobody is co-ordinating it.

“We are trying to take that concern and turn it into something tangible. The actual courses on the ground do not exist yet.

“In collaboration with the other colleges in Gloucestershire, we are trying to pull together the whole skills piece.

“What we are missing are the individuals with the knowledge to retrofit all these new technologies.

“We need to make them smart but also develop the knowledge to retrofit all these new technologies into existing homes, properties and industrial buildings.”

For further information on upcoming Green Technology training opportunities, please contact either patrick. mcleod@sgscol.ac.uk or kate.hartshorn@sgscol.ac.uk