Skills for A Sustainable Built Environment- An exploration By David C. Chakonta M.Eng. (Hons) FEIZ; R. Eng. Director Development Division Technical Education, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training Authority (TEVETA)

Presentation Structure Zambian Construction Industry Profile Built Environment Product Cycle Major steps Hannover Principles & Design for Sustainability Skills Development for the Construction Industry Curriculum Development & Sustainable development Conclusion

Zambian Construction Industry Profile Severe decline from mid 1980s to 2000; Public works projects – key market driver; Domestic Housing unit construction boom in recent years; New mine developments

Built Environment Product Cycle Major steps Need for a product Acquire land Specify Functional requirements Prepare Designs/Drawings Procure construction services Undertake construction activities (Note: At what stage do we or should we start thinking “sustainability development”?)

Hannover Principles & Design for Sustainability 1.Insist on the right of humanity and nature to co-exist in a healthy, supportive, diverse, and sustainable condition. 2.Accept responsibility for the consequences of design decisions upon human well-being, the viability of natural systems, and their right to co-exist. 3.Create safe objects of long-term value. Do not burden future generations with requirements for maintenance or vigilant administration of potential danger due to the careless creations of products, processes, or standards.

Hannover Principles & Design for Sustainability 4. Respect relationships between spirit and matter. Consider all aspects of human settlement including community, dwelling, industry, and trade in terms of existing and evolving connections between spiritual and material consciousness. 5. Eliminate the concept of waste. Evaluate and optimize the full life-cycle of products and processes, to approach the state of natural systems in which there is no waste. 6. Rely on natural energy flows. Human designs should, like the living world, derive their creative forces from perpetual solar income. Incorporate this energy efficiently and safely for responsible use.

Hannover Principles & Design for Sustainability 7. Understand the limitations of design. No human creation lasts forever and design does not solve all problems. Those who create and plan should practice humility in the face of nature. Treat nature as a model and mentor, not an inconvenience to be evaded or controlled. 8. Seek constant improvement by the sharing of knowledge. Encourage direct and open communication between colleagues, patrons, manufacturers and users to link long term sustainable considerations with ethical responsibility, and re-establish the integral relationship between natural processes and human activity. 9. Recognize Interdependence. The elements of human design interact with and depend on the natural world, with broad and diverse implications at every scale. Expand design considerations to recognizing even distant effects.

Skills Development for the Construction Industry The bulk of the skills are acquired through non-formal workplace based training There a number of trades training institutes and vocational training centres training artisans; The industry down turn of the 1980s to 2000 resulted in breakdown talent pipeline for artisans Reversal has occurred since 2002

Curriculum Development & Sustainable development There has been no demand signal to introduce curricula for “Sustainable development” so far; The TEVET Sector Plan under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Vocational Training – has introduced a policy measure introduce “Sustainable development” in TEVET curricula; The Hannover Principles for Sustainable Design will provide a good starting point.

Conclusion The severe decline of the Construction industry in the 1980s to 2000 has to some extent contributed to the delay in the introduction of sustainable development. The policy measures in the TEVET Sector plan and the Sixth National Devlopment plan will from now on provide policy guidance for curriculum development that will ensure inclusion of “Sustainable development” with regard to Construction industry skills devlopment