Hard hats are going green

Australia's one million traditionally blue collar construction workers are turning green as the building industry drives a predicted boom in green collar jobs over the next 20 years.

Plumbers are considering ways to save water, bricklayers are recycling whatever they can and electricians are laying cable in buildings without ceilings in a revolution which is changing building sites right across Australia.

Tania Crosbie, Executive Director of Education and Marketing of the Green Building Council Australia (GBCA), said many building industry jobs, now considered to be green jobs, did not exist 5-10 years ago.

"The green economy in Australia is believed to be worth about $17 billion and forecasts indicate that another 850,000 green collar jobs will be created over the next 20 years," Ms Crosbie said.

"In the past five years, the GBCA has trained over 14,500 people working in property and construction in the use of the green building environmental rating system, Green Star," Ms Crosbie said.

"Of those 14,500 plus, 4,500 have completed the accreditation and use these skills daily in their professions as designers, architects, consultants, builders, tradespeople and bureaucrats."

The plumbing trade is at the forefront of changing work practices, training apprentice plumbers in sustainability, energy savings, waste reduction and water conservation at the 5 Star Green Star rated Plumbing Industry Climate Action Centre (PICAC) which opened in Brunswick, Melbourne last year.

Vin Ebejer, General Manager of the PICAC said the centre is the first of its kind in Australia and possibly in the world, and is focused on delivering quality training in sustainability and green plumbing practices to plumbers of all ages
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"With more than 70 per cent of the energy consumed in buildings in Australia delivered by the plumbing system, the importance of having plumbers well-trained and well-versed in sustainability issues cannot be overstated," Mr Ebejer said.

"Most plumbers were trained before the invention of green technologies. Significant amounts of training must occur to up skill these plumbers so that they can meet consumer demand for their services."

The tools and skills needed to bring green jobs and green buildings to every town in Australia is the topic of a special session at the Green Cities 2010 convention opening in Melbourne on Sunday. Green Cities is the largest and most influential green building conference in the Asia Pacific and is a joint initiative of the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) and the Property Council of Australia (PCA).


Tags: Green Building Council Aust news