The UK is facing the dual challenges of a housing crisis and climate change. VELUX has responded by developing a concept called Living Places, which promotes: low-carbon, sustainable, high-density urban living, and by working with partners to deliver an exemplar project in Sunderland. The city leadership has an ambition to be the first net zero city in the UK, and we wanted to support that.
When we began discussions, we quickly saw that there was strong alignment in our principles. We have since come together as a team with Sunderland City Council, Igloo Regeneration (the developer), MawsonKerr Architects and other partners and are now finalising the details of a development of around 40 to 50 mixed tenure homes in the centre of the city. The site is a reclaimed brownfield plot, opposite the City Hall, and forms part of a larger development of 1,000 homes.
We were then introduced to HICSA (Housing Innovation and Construction Skills Academy), part of Sunderland College, which is based in the city and aims to train 800 school-leavers, apprentices and adults per year who want to upskill, return to, or join the construction sector. HICSA is working with partners to deliver parts of the curriculum, and there is strong synergy between our aim to develop an exemplary sustainable neighbourhood and the goal of training the future builders and construction workers who will build and possibly live in those homes in their community. We have installed a VELUX Training Academy within HICSA, and will both deliver courses to their students and also train their staff to run courses themselves.
VELUX is keen to scale this model to other colleges. There are nine additional construction skills academies across the country, and we are developing a curriculum that can plug into the national framework, meaning we could support delivery at scale. It is estimated that an additional 48,000 skilled workers will be required in the construction sector to deliver the homes we need in the future. We also need a skilled workforce for the retrofit market, with the expertise to upgrade the large stock of older homes we have, whether that involves replacing boilers, installing insulation or upgrading windows.
There is little point in having the ambition to build more homes and to do so more sustainably if you do not have partners who can help deliver it. We recognise that colleges need support from both business and the private sector. We would welcome the opportunity to work with organisations delivering this training, and explore what we could achieve together, understanding their ambitions and how we can support them
The vision of Living Places Sunderland is to demonstrate that developers, councils and housing associations can build more sustainable, healthier homes at scale, homes that people genuinely want to live in and enjoy. These homes are healthier, better for occupants, and affordable to build.
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