For National Apprenticeship Week 2024, Mark Naysmith — President and CEO for Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa at WSP (Patron and Double Gold Member) offers his perspective on the national need to “sharpen our focus on Skills”.
“When we look to 2050 and the huge transformation required to decarbonise our economy and society, it’s easy to become blinkered with big questions about which technologies we’ll need and where best to deploy them.
Standardising building design through MMC? Retrofitting homes? Sustainable transport systems? Electric vehicles? Carbon Capture and Storage? Wind power or nuclear? Heat pumps or hydrogen? Of course, the climate challenge is so great that in reality we need all of the above, in many shapes and forms, at scale and in a variety of places, to deliver
net zero and create sustainable communities across the UK.
But something just as fundamental is at stake here. Public debates often leave out the one thing the delivery of each one of these technologies requires – a skilled and plentiful workforce.”
Read the Expert Opinion Edition 8 Time to Sharpen our focus on Skills here
