A detailed guide to courses and training for individuals and companies focused on Scotland's construction industry has been launched by industry collaboration body the Scottish Construction Leadership Forum (CLF).

Officially known as the Built Environment Workforce Development Portal, the new guide will provide a breakdown of re-skilling and up-skilling courses by theme, occupation and region to allow users to search for training in emerging built environment approaches within Scotland.

The directory, which is accessible on the Scottish Enterprise website, will allow users seeking enhanced career opportunities to search college, university, and training providers via five key themes – digital, offsite, heat energy / decarbonisation, sustainability and circular across Scotland.

Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise, Ivan McKee said: "The portal is funded by the Scottish Government to help people and businesses identify more training opportunities and address challenges obtaining skilled construction workers.


"As part of our national strategy to transform the economy, the Scottish Government is working towards a more sustainable, productive, innovative and diverse industry. Upskilling and reskilling, particularly for net zero, will play a vital role in workforce transformation across the range and scale of design, manufacture, construction, and maintenance activities in the sector."

Kirsty Duncan, Associate Impact Manager at Built Environment – Smarter Transformation (BE-ST), formerly Construction Scotland Innovation Centre, said: "If people want jobs in these areas, the portal will show them where they can reskill or upskill and learn how to get into a particular sector.

"This resource is for everyone, not just those in the construction sector, but the courses will be focused very much on the built environment.

"The portal has mapped Scotland's skills training environment as thoroughly as possible and uploaded all training opportunities within the five designated themes on offer from university, colleges and other training providers. If providers want to submit courses then they can email details which can be uploaded."

Emma Dickson, Technical Director at Arcadis, said: "There are many courses and qualifications available, and it can be difficult to make sense of the skills landscape to find the appropriate training opportunity. The Skills Directory will allow employers and anyone who needs information to quickly locate appropriate training and upskilling opportunities, an especially important factor in the construction sector when upskilling in digital and net zero carbon issues."

Funded by CLF and Scottish Enterprise, the portal has been created by BE-ST in association with Edinburgh-based digital design specialists Starbit.

The CLF was established in March 2019 to develop and implement a Recovery Plan of actions aligned with Government policies and the Construction Scotland Industry Strategy.