On Thursday 14th December 2023, BUILD UP hosted the final webinar from a four-part series that presented the BUS-GoCircular project outcomes. In this interactive session, a peer-led and participant-centred overview of BUS-GoCircular‘s training methodologies and innovative circular training content was presented. This webinar was specially designed for training centre managers and educational professionals for whom this freely available teacher-led training materials in construction are particularly relevant.

The speakers presented the following topics:

• BUS-GoCircular Mapping of required skills and skill gaps
• Training – BusGoCircular
• Train the Trainer Programme
• Mentoring Programme
• Fundamentals Training packs
• Gamification
• BUS-GoCircular Action Plan for Public authorities

The webinar commenced with a fun interactive poll of participants location (Morrocco and Cyprus amongst the most interesting), enquiring as to professional backgrounds of participants (mostly teachers, trainers and researchers as expected) and finally asking what words are most associated with circular construction (waste management, reuse, biobased materials).

Following this, an enlightening introduction to the BUS-GoCircular project was delivered by Gloria Callinan from TUS Ireland, providing crucial context and insights regarding skills mapping and the circular construction qualification framework. Participants were invited to discover the tangible outcomes of BUS-GoCircular, specifically tailored for trainers, including units of learning outcomes, comprehensive training materials and specialised training packs for SMEs (which enables them to train their staff in a simple, attractive, short and low-cost way). Guest storytellers treated participants with captivating stories of success, featuring individuals who have upskilled through the BUS-GoCircular mentoring and Train-the-Trainer (TtT) programmes.

The main goal of the BUSGoCircular project is to stimulate and support the need for a green energy skilled workforce, as well as to build hands-on capacity by developing a circular construction skills qualification framework and training materials on circularity that different actors from the value chain can use to upskill. 

Gloria Callinan explained that ‘the Circular Construction Skills Qualification framework is a task-based qualification framework for circular skills in construction, meaning a set of tasks and corresponding developed learning outcomes are mapped and connected to relevant professions throughout the construction value chain’. In this way, the framework offers a practical interpretation of the Key Elements of the Circular Economy, made applicable to the construction sector roles and perfect for trainers to use in the New Year. 

Gloria Callinan: ‘The Circular Construction Skills Qualification framework is a task-based qualification framework for circular skills in construction, meaning a set of tasks and corresponding developed learning outcomes are mapped and connected to relevant professions throughout the construction value chain’.

Over the course of 90mins participants engaged in an interactive session where opportunities were explored, challenges tackled and a path forward was mapped out confidently by Pepa Esparza Arbona, Project Communications Manager with IVE in Spain, for more easily incorporating circular economy into construction roles.

The webinar was co-organised by BUS-GoCircular partners Technological University of the Shannon (Ireland),  Valencia Institute of Building (Spain), ISSO, Building Changes and  Circle Economy (The Netherlands), entitled “New Training Materials and Methodologies for Up-Skilling in Circular Economy in Construction for Training Centres”. The purpose of the webinar was to show how teachers, tutors, professors and trainers can utilise the outcomes of the BUS-GoCircular project and incorporate them into their training. Sreeja Raghunathan, Built Environment Consultant at Circle Economy Foundation, gave a fascinating insight into the innovative and exciting use of gamification in training.

Guest storytellers were:

• Maria Angeles Roca, Technical Staff at the Department of Circular Architecture of Universitat Jaume I, who said that the participation in the BUS-GoCircular train the trainer programme helped her to feel part of a community, while 
• Domagoj Tkalčić, Student at University of Zagreb told the audience that that his mentor was inspirational and helped him see so many opportunities for circular construction in his future career.

Sybren Steensma, Building Changes, The Netherlands also joined the session and brought the business perspective, namely how can the materials be adopted and incorporated by businesses and companies. He noted that while circular economy may seem like a big hairy monster, with our BUS-GoCircular framework, people can better understand the role they can take and the skills they can develop. ‘It (the framework) is a very easy to understand and workable model to get more grip on this big hairy monster that is circularity’, explained Sybren. 

Sybren Steensma, Building Changes, The Netherlands: ‘It (the BUSGoCircular framework) is a very easy to understand and workable model to get more grip on this big hairy monster that is circularity’. 

Expertly facilitated by Daniella Mazzini of ISSO the storytelling section was particularly beneficial as participants listened to captivating stories from project beneficiaries about the application of project results in their construction careers.