KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

With founding partners including Sisk, Saint-Gobain and John Paul Construction, The Supply Chain Sustainability School has launched in Ireland

At the start of 2024, the Supply Chain Sustainability School began operating in Ireland. With a focus on sustainability and environmental issues, the School is a collaboration between clients, contractors and supply chain members that each have a mutual interest in building the skills of the sector’s supply chain. The Supply Chain Sustainability School was established in the UK in 2012 off the back of the London Olympics, when the various contractors involved with the event identified a need to educate and upskill their supply chains.

“We applied and received funding from CITB (Construction Industry Training Board) to set up a skills platform for contractors working on the London Olympics. It was to be a training initiative that would go beyond the London Olympics and more broadly benefit construction firms across the industry and upskill the supply chain. We started off with just six contractors signing up to the platform; 12 years later, we’ve got 210 partners and over 6000 active corporate members in the UK,” says Programmes Manager Andrew Wilson. It was, says Andrew, quite an innovative initiative and one that proved challenging at times. “The contractors that first got involved were quite suspicious of each other, purely on a commercial front. They were competitors as well as partners, vying for similar work on major infrastructure projects. Ultimately, they came together and realised that the combined impact of what they could do was far more than what they could achieve individually. They also realised the return on investment would be greater; by working together, there would be efficiencies and economies of scale to develop training resources and learning programmes for the industry.”

Calls have long been made for an Irish branch of the School and with support from 16 construction firms (so far), the Supply Chain Sustainability School Ireland launched in January 2024. An operations manager has been recruited and an expanded staff team will also be employed. “From the start, we said we wanted to run the school in Ireland, from Ireland. Initially, the programme will be supported from the established team in the UK but we see the Irish School being self-sufficient and staffed by an Irish workforce.”

Learning is online and covers all topics across the built environment related to sustainability. People who engage with the School can benefit from hundreds of resources that are free at the point of use. The resource library is categorised by sub-topics of sustainability and can be filtered by competency level, resource type and rating. “Our learning resources provide understanding and knowledge on an individual level, but also on a corporate level. Individuals can join the School and do a self-assessment to see where their knowledge gaps are and the School will then provide bespoke content for any individual who becomes a member. The School also brings together individual learning at an organisational level; companies can assess their capability as organisations and receive action plans from the School’s platform based on their company assessment. That’s then developed into an action plan which enables that organisation to address any weaknesses and gaps in capability.”

Learning resources are free for members; partners provide a subscription free for positioning themselves at a strategic level. “In Ireland we’ve got 16 partners so far, who essentially are funding the school. All their suppliers and sub-contractors can join the school completely free of charge. Partners are extremely important to the School – they make it happen – and they also share ownership of the School. It’s their School as much as anyone else’s.”

Andrew is calling on both individuals working in the industry and construction firms to sign up and get involved. “Now that we’ve got the initial group of founding partners, we’re able to move forward and grow the school. We expect more firms to join and become partners over the next few months. We would encourage people to take a look at the website, become members and engage with the learning resources we offer. Understanding and knowledge directly feed into performance at individual and organisational level. We hope the industry as a whole will become more efficient and productive and better able to respond to challenges, both now and in the future.”

Founding Partners
Construction Industry Federation
John Paul Construction
Cairn Homes
ESB
Gas Network Ireland
Glenveagh
IPUT
Irish Rail
Uisce Eireann
John Sisk & Son
Kingspan
Kirby Group
Murphy Group
Roadstone
Saint-Gobain
Skanstec

Topics covered include…
Air Quality
Biodiversity
Employment Conditions
Energy & Carbon
Environmental Management
Sustainability Strategy
Materials
Supplier Diversity
Sustainable Procurement
Wellbeing
Training & Skills

Become a Member
Membership of the Supply Chain Sustainability School is completely free for individuals and companies and will provide access to hundreds of online sustainability learning resources and training sessions relevant to the built environment industry. Registration is quick and straightforward – complete an assessment form and the School will prepare a bespoke action plan for individuals or organisations.

Membership will also entitle you to attend networking and training sessions, gain CPD points through an accredited suite of e-learning modules and online training activities.

Become a Partner
If your organisation wants to collaborate with industry peers to shape the development of the School for the Irish built environment industry, consider joining as a Partner. School Partners set its strategic direction and identify critical issues to be addressed, new training to develop, workshop and conference content and ensure good governance.

 _____________________________________________________

Michael McDonnell Managing Editor of Irish Construction Industry Magazine & Plan Magazine

Email: michael@irishconstruction.com      WWW.MCDMEDIA.IE