THE wraps were pulled off a multi-million pound green construction skills training centre this week.

More than 100 industry, government and training and skills leaders, attended the launch of SusCon, a £6.9m training and research centre for sustainable construction based in Dartford.

With the government committing to a 30 per cent reduction in C02 levels, placing an emphasis on construction and the built environment, which accounts for almost half of all UK emissions, the launch has come at a crucial time for industry.

SusCon’s development has been spurred on by the urgent need to address the shortage of green skills needed to construct low carbon, sustainable communities. It is expected to equip up to 2,500 professionals a year with sustainable building skills.

SusCon’s curriculum covers every area of sustainable development including construction techniques, water conservation, bio-diversity, the supply chain and behaviour management.

The centre’s courses are also cross-disciplinary, so members of different building trades such as bricklayers and roofers can train together to encourage a sharing of ideas and collaborative working.

The new building was awarded a Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) ‘outstanding’ rating with a score of 88.85%, the highest BREEAM score ever achieved for an education building.

The SusCon building has been developed by a partnership led by Dartford Borough Council, North West Kent College and Prologis. The development has been made possible by funding from the Homes and Communities Agency, SEEDA and the Skills Funding Agency via CITB-ConstructionSkills.