Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 2 May 2023
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government
Modern Construction Methods: Discussion
Mr. Andrew Brownlee:
In a similar vein, we are now embedding NZEB and BIM training as part of the apprenticeship programme. Every apprentice who will be coming out will have those skills, and we can update the curriculum in terms of future needs as well. I want to make a related point on that question. We were asked about regulation earlier on, and it was more about regulation of buildings and building control. Effectively, we are the regulator of construction skills and of construction workers across the sector. To get on any site, you need a Safe Pass card. People can now go through an online renewal scheme. We are modernising the curriculum there. There is also the potential to update the requirements around Safe Pass to reflect MMC requirements, NZEB and retrofitting skills. There is potential to look at that over the next few years. Legislation is also being passed to move to a licensing model for construction and quarry skills, the construction skills construction skills, CSCS, cards and quarries skills construction skills, QSCS, cards. Applicants complete a once-off training scheme. They get their cards and go back every five years for renewal. As long as they can prove who they are, they can get the card renewed. Similar to Safe Pass, we will be moving to an ongoing assessment and relicensing scheme. That gives us the opportunity to build in requirements to have the MMC-relevant skills, green skills and retrofitting skills that we need for the modern construction industry. It is another aspect of regulation that might be worth thinking about as we move forward.
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