Mixed bag

There is no single route to becoming a regenerator. Look at today’s top regeneration professionals and you will find that they have reached their job via every possible pathway. They had to, as there were few courses that could provide the rounded skills needed to deliver today’s sustainable communities and complex large-scale regeneration projects. Now that is changing, as courses are being developed to offer broader skills to those who already have some understanding of the industry.

The Academy for Sustainable Communities (ASC) was established to help plug industry skills gaps. Among its initiatives, it has worked with Sheffield Hallam University to launch a part-time foundation degree in sustainable communities, which takes its first students this month. The three-year course covers housing, planning, design and environmental management, as well as cross-disciplinary working.

Amanda Lane, learning and resources manager at the academy, says: “There is an obvious need for this, especially for generic training in skills like leadership and cross-occupational learning. Most courses cover aspects of sustainability, but few cover it in the round and also provide training in generic skills.”

The course is expected to start with about 20 students from diverse backgrounds, from career changers to local authority staff. It may be the start of a much bigger initiative. The ASC has had discussions with three more universities interested in offering the foundation degree.

Universities are not the only ones attracted by the potential to blur educational boundaries. English Partnerships, Willmott Dixon, Cyril Sweett, Gleeds, Vale of Glamorgan council and Stewart Milne are among the very different organisations that are interested in supporting students on Oxford Brookes University’s new MSc in project management in the built environment.

For many years, organisations operated in silos, with little understanding of how elements hang together

Dr Esra Kurul, Oxford Brookes University

Dr Esra Kurul, the programme leader, says interest in the course reflects awareness of the need to build multidisciplinary skills. “For many years, organisations within the built environment industry have operated in silos, with little understanding of how the many elements that make up a successful development hang together,” she says.

The part-time course, also in its launch year, has been formulated to provide the skills needed by multidisciplinary project managers overseeing the life cycle of a large-scale development. It covers soft skills such as human behaviour and leadership styles alongside the traditional subjects.

Soft skills have been neglected in many aspects of industry training. How many architects learn how to deal with the community consultation that is now an essential element of development? East London’s Birkbeck Stratford has launched a two-year part-time MSc in community development and civil renewal. The course is one of three in community studies starting in October 2007 – the others are a certificate in higher education in community leadership and a BSc in community development and public policy.

Dr William Ackah, lecturer in community and voluntary sector studies at Birkbeck, explains the thinking behind the courses. “Increasingly, people who work in the community need to diversify their skills and learn more about how to work with a diverse range of community stakeholders from grass-roots activists to chief executives of local authorities and NHS trusts.”