Fundación Laboral de la Construcción will start 2025 leading the second edition of the ‘Construction Blueprint’ project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, which will launch a Strategic Alliance for the development of professional competences in the framework of the Pact for Skills in Construction.

The consortium, made up of 20 organisations from 10 European countries, which will be coordinated by the partnership, will seek to create new strategic and cooperative approaches to provide specific solutions for the development of competences, in the short and medium term, in areas that contribute to achieving the principles that make up the Pact for Skills in Construction. This will be achieved through the design and development of core curricula for the sector, including vocational training and higher education, as well as the implementation of training actions to cover the competences addressed by these. This Pact aims to help public and private organisations to improve their competences so that they can move forward in the green and digital transitions.

In parallel, Fundación Laboral is leading the fifth BUILD UP Skills initiative in Spain to promote training and certification in micro-skills for the green transition. The project ‘Construye 2030plus’, co-funded by the LIFE programme - Clean Energy Transition sub-programme, which started last October, will develop a training route that will visit ten Spanish cities, stopping at refurbishment sites and training workers.

In addition, the entity will participate in four other new Erasmus+ projects: ‘ET4Digital’ focused on training teachers in digital innovation within the construction ecosystem; ‘rePOWER’ which seeks to improve the introduction of decarbonised heating and cooling solutions; ‘Ediltrophy’ on eco-sustainable dry construction techniques; and 'INSIDE' in which an International Network for sustainable and innovative digital excellence in construction VET will be developed.

These projects are in addition to seven other currently active Erasmus+ projects:

• ‘Pact4Youth’ whose main objective is to act in favour of the employability of young people in the construction sector.
• 'BuildOffsiteEU' which promotes the (re)qualification of the construction workforce for the transition from traditional to industrialised (off-site) construction.
• 'Women Can Build LatAm' for the training and empowerment of women in the construction sector in Latin America and Europe.
• 'Habitable' which promotes the habitat ecosystem in Castilla y León, through international collaboration networks and centres of excellence, developing tools, studies, monitoring systems..., for innovation, development and social inclusion in the region.
• 'CONCRETO' which develops a training programme for VET and higher education students for the green rehabilitation of European concrete architecture.
• 'Welcome Work' for the inclusion of migrants and refugees in the construction sector.
• 'XR Energy' which develops models of Extended Reality teaching resources for use in VET classrooms.
   

A European tour of 2024

During 2024, the Fundación Laboral de la Construcción has played a leading role in several milestones at European level in relation to improving sectoral training, attracting labour and promoting digital and sustainable innovation.

In this regard, it is important to highlight the coordination of the first trans-oceanic initiative led by the Fundación Laboral de la Construcción, to promote women's inclusion in the sector through the ‘Women Can Build LatAm’ initiative. Additionally, the ‘NaturBuild’ project successfully concluded, resulting in the development of an open online course on green roofs. Similarly, the ‘Construye 2030’ delivered two key sectoral reports identifying training needs and actions required to ensure all workers in the sector are skilled for sustainable construction: ‘Status Quo: A Study on the Current Overview of the Construction Sector’, and ‘National Training Roadmap 2030’. These reports were developed in collaboration with ‘Red Construye: training and competences’ (only in Spanish), a multidisciplinary community of over 500 experts from the construction sector. 

The good work and strategic design of the international projects developed by FLC has resulted in several awards from administrations and international organisations, such as the recognition of the National VET Team of Spain for ‘the coordination of relevant projects in the fight against climate change and the environment’; the ‘NaturBuild’ project was selected for the SEPIE's Santiago de Compostela Conference ‘The Vocational Training Path towards a more sustainable Europe’; the recognition of the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training to FLC for its coordination in projects ‘of singular interest for VET’, or the inclusion of the entity in the BILT Expert Group on training in building and construction of the UNESCO-UNEVOC, who have recognised as a ‘Practice of Innovation and Learning’ the Erasmus+ project ‘Green Growth’.

During the year, four international newsletters were launched informing about the European activity of the entity and 34 Erasmus+ scholarships for training abroad were awarded, 17 were granted to Basic and Intermediate VET students from Cantabria and Navarra who travelled to Portugal and Italy, and 17 to Training and Employment staff from Fundación Laboral de la Construcción who were in Paris learning about the French VET and employment system, as well as the qualification systems, accreditation of competences, micro-credentials, socio-labour counselling...

In addition, the organisation of events with European repercussions has helped the joint entity to position itself as a key player in sectoral training. An example has been the celebration in Brussels, at the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), of the ‘Pact4Youth’ project event to address the employability of young people in the construction sector, the organisation of the first conference on ‘Training and Employment Initiatives for Sustainable Construction' or the press conferences with the Erasmus+ protagonists of FLC to celebrate the #ErasmusDays.

The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.