Spec Finish

Feature SpecFinish talks to three FIS members on the benefits of attending a fully-funded, 10-week Net ZeroTogether Bootcamp at the University of Birmingham to demystify net zero for employees. BUILDING BETTER FOR MORE SUSTAINABLE OUTCOMES 24 www.thefis.org T HE UK Government has committed to become net zero by 2050 and businesses will need to make big changes. Skills Bootcamps are part of the Government’s Lifetime Skills Guarantee to help everyone gain skills for life. The focus was on upskilling, so the attendees become a champion in sustainability and net zero, identifying the levers that a sector has available to support environmental improvements. The Skills Bootcamp included live industry projects with theory-style learning and had a clear focus on how this links to the net zero agenda. The content of the Bootcamp included: • Engagement to raise awareness of the benefits of the environmental opportunities identified. • Co-design/creation: Working collaboratively to devise and deliver solutions to support environmental objectives. • Training and education: Influencing behaviour to reduce waste and use resources more efficiently in the performance of the contract. • Partnering/collaborating in engaging with the community in relation to the performance of the contract, to support environmental objectives. • Volunteering opportunities for the contract workforce, e.g. undertaking activities that encourage direct positive impact. • Understanding of how to influence staff, suppliers, customers, communities and/ or other appropriate stakeholders through the delivery of the contract to support environmental protection and improvement. Joanne Kaiser , Construction Health and Safety Manager at Telling Finishings (Contractor), Zach Hamilton , Graduate DesignManager at Morgan Sindall (Main Contractor) and Fatema Farooki , Graduate Design Engineer at Hadley Group (Designer/Manufacturer) tell us about their reasons for attending the Bootcamp, developing a net zeromindset, becoming the sustainability/net zero champion for their business, to communicate persuasively to key stakeholders the connections between economic and environmental success and their collaborative project entitled “ECONSTRUCT” with the goal to create and deliver a sustainability plan for their business. Joanne explained she noticed the University of BirminghamNet Zero Together Bootcamp advertised in the FIS newsletter. Joanne said: “I applied with an aim to gain skills in net zero, sustainability, life cycle assessment and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) compliance for the construction industry, particularly relating to our business trades; being SFS, drylining, plastering, suspended ceilings and tiling. “I found themix of online and in person training very interesting especially visiting the university campus and teaching by Dr Dexter Hunt and Dr Lydia Pickering. We attended onlinemeetings and had access to lots of online podcasts via canvas of RebekahTrinder interviewing experts in their field”. She said: “We were fortunate enough to visit Tyseley Energy Park to see the green energy and innovation quarter including the UK’s first multi-fuel low and zero carbon fuel refuelling station, refuelling BirminghamCity Council’s fully hydrogen double decker bus fleet! “We then moved onto the six-week project, the aim being set for us to collaboratively identify an area to address relating to sustainability or net zero within one of our organisations or areas of interest. “Through networking we soon realised four of us worked in construction, with three of us being members of FIS. With a FM client, main contractor, SFS designer/manufacturer and us being an interior finishes contractor/ installer it was brilliant to work together with a mutual desire to make improvements in the construction process from concept, built stage and onto the end user, with my particular area of interest being influencing the design stage, embodied carbon, reducing re-work and recycling. We worked together and had interviews with chosen experts, this is where I met Flavie Lowres, FIS Sustainability Champion, we had a very productive conversation with some great ideas thanks to Flavie”. Joanne explained that Neil fromUniversity of Birmingham, our representative FM client, undertook an EGS assessment with Nichola Claessen fromRSMUK. She said: “This helped us understand further what EGS assessments entail particularly from an end user/client perspective. We then compiled and presented our project at the presentation, discussion panel, and networking event at the BirminghamExchange”. Joanne concluded by saying: “Things haven’t ended there. I have gone on to review our company policy and processes with an aim to further improve sustainability especially within drylining, plastering and tiling. We have connected via email and LinkedIn to various people to share Zach Hamilton, Graduate Design Manager at Morgan Sindall Joanne Kaiser, Construction Health andSafetyManager at Telling Finishings Fatema Farooki, Graduate Design Engineer at Hadley Group