Mind the skills gap: the skills we need for sustainable communities

This report assesses the gaps in the supply and demand of skills required to deliver sustainable communities. The study was commissioned by the Academy for Sustainable Communities (ASC) and undertaken by Arup. The research involved several components: an online survey of 146 organisations involved in the delivery of sustainable communities to identify organisational perceptions of current skill gaps and future requirements; an online survey of 763 individuals within organisations to establish perceptions of personal skills and future requirements; case study audits of specific sustainable community organisations and projects to establish their workloads, skills gaps and issues; and a modelling exercise to provide forecasts of the scale of gaps in labour supply. The study concludes that there aren’t enough people with the right skills in the right places to deliver the Government’s ambitious agenda for creating sustainable communities across England. There is a need for an integrated strategy to support skills development and address labour shortages in key occupations and for a partnership approach across the sector. Organisations need technically qualified staff with a range of generic skills in order to deliver sustainable communities.

Published summary.

This report assesses the gaps in the supply and demand of skills required to deliver sustainable communities. The study was commissioned by the Academy for Sustainable Communities (ASC) and undertaken by Arup. The research involved several components: an online survey of 146 organisations involved in the delivery of sustainable communities to identify organisational perceptions of current skill gaps and future requirements; an online survey of 763 individuals within organisations to establish perceptions of personal skills and future requirements; case study audits of specific ...  [+] Show more