With over 250 million smart meters for electricity, gas, heat and water expected to be installed across EU countries by 2020, improving skills on site in relation to the supervision of commissioning, installation and operation of smart metering solutions is a priority for the construction sector. That is why a pan-European project has been launched that sees SummitSkills, a UK standard setting organisation for building services engineering contributing its expertise in skills, training and qualifications.
The COSMET Partnership aims to develop a curriculum to support the Vocational Education and Training (VET) provision for site managers in smart metering and address the needs of employers, learners, providers, and other key groups in the sector.
The partnership consists of organisations from Greece, Spain, Germany, Poland, Lithuania and the UK, which, between them, contribute expertise in research, employer engagement and VET.
With the rapid introduction of smart technologies in construction, the work of site managers is already undergoing change, requiring appropriate upskilling with combined, green and digital, competences. The challenge for the traditional construction-training sector is to embrace modern environmental technologies. VET programs at EU level do not sufficiently, comprehensively and consistently support the current status of site managers’ skills development in relevance to smart metering.
The overall aim of COSMET is to address modern training needs in terms of practicality, flexibility, cost-effectiveness and EU accessibility; to develop Open Educational Resources (OER) that ensure easy and free access to on-line educational material; and promote a framework for the development of an EU qualification on smart metering skills for site managers.
“The UK’s apprenticeship and vocational training structure is well-respected across Europe and we’re happy to contribute to the development of a quality, consistent framework for smart metering skills. It is fantastic to see pan-European countries working together in this way to address skills issues,” said Nigel Hollett, general manager of SummitSkills.
