On 1st and 2nd July, the penultimate meeting of the European Erasmus+ project 'XR Energy' took place. The meeting was held at Fundación Laboral de la Construcción centre in the Balearic Islands, which hosted this key gathering for the evolution of this transnational initiative. During these two working days, representatives from partner organisations shared progress, results and next steps for continuing to develop training resources.

'XR Energy' is a project that seeks to respond to one of today's major challenges: the digital skills gap. To achieve this, the initiative champions the use of emerging technologies such as Extended Reality (XR) to promote the design of immersive, interactive learning experiences aligned with the real training needs of the workforce.

During the meeting, progress on the various expected outcomes of the initiative was reviewed. The learning units already developed were presented and evaluated, analysing their content, methodology and applicability in teaching construction activities.

Additionally, work currently under development was shared, and a joint evaluation of achievements to date was conducted. Among these is the didactic unit developed by Juan Francisco Lobaco and Lourdes Carreras -lecturers from Fundación Laboral in Zaragoza-. This learning unit features multimedia elements (360º images, BIM models and virtual itineraries) designed to facilitate student understanding of different theoretical concepts.

Another highlight of the meeting was planning the concrete next steps that will guide the consortium's work in the coming months. Among the activities to be developed are dissemination activities, aimed at raising awareness of the project's various results amongst teachers, companies, training centres and sector professionals.

With the aim of communicating and raising awareness of the didactic units developed and the tutorials showing the learning modules, the 'XR Energy' consortium participated in the 17th International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies, EDULEARN 2025, held in Palma de Mallorca.

Project presentation at the EDULEARN 2025 conference

Some of the content developed within the 'XR Energy' initiative was presented at the EDULEARN 2025 international conference. Fundación Laboral de Aragón lecturers shared project progress there and connected with education professionals from across Europe, enabling them to establish synergies with key agents in the educational and technological field.

The Foundation and its commitment to construction's energy transition

Fundación's participation in projects such as 'XR Energy' reaffirms its commitment to fostering training innovation and the energy and ecological transition of the construction sector. Furthermore, it should be noted that it coordinates and forms part of other European initiatives that aim to promote quality training in sustainability matters, favouring construction decarbonisation and the consequent reduction in buildings' energy consumption.

It is worth highlighting that, in line with this need to improve training and capacity building for more sustainable construction, we are working on introducing decarbonised heating and cooling solutions as part of the 'Repower Regions' consortium, an Innovation Alliances project co-funded by the European Union's Erasmus+ programme.

Specifically, on 26th and 27th June, this European initiative's meeting was held in Riga (Latvia), with the aim of establishing next steps to address the challenge of favouring the introduction of more environmentally friendly heating and cooling systems and supporting the construction sector's energy transition.

Both projects, 'XR Energy' and 'Repower Regions', reflect the Foundation's commitment to promoting training aligned with the challenges posed by the European Green Deal and policies to decarbonise the European Union's construction sector. International collaboration, the use of advanced educational technologies and the creation of content adapted to the sector's new requirements are the fundamental pillars for training the professionals of the future.

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.