Water scarcity is a serious problem for many regions of Europe with some 45% of European territory expected to be facing water scarcity problems by 2030. On the other hand, the damage caused by floods may increase five-fold by 2050. Such situation is driving growing attention and increasing regulation on water efficiency and water management across Europe, both in response to water scarcity problems and to climate change mitigation and adaptation goals. This is happening particularly in cities and buildings (residential, public and commercial buildings, such as hotels, offices, hospitals and schools), considering the economic and environmental benefits of water savings in buildings (estimated in 30% in the EU), as well as the consequent reduction in energy consumption and CO2 emissions (which estimated energy savings are equivalent to 3.5 % of total residential energy use in EU), according to data from the Communication from the Commission “The Blueprint to Safeguard Europe’s Water Resources” (COM(2012)673). To successfully outcome this concerns, there is need to adequate training, capacity building and qualification of construction professionals (including plumbers, technical agents and designers) as well as of “green” professionals (including water and energy consultants), sustained on reliable and independent accreditation schemes that certificate the technical knowledge and capacities of such professionals, towards market recognition and confidence. Therefore, the project “WATTer Skills” aims to develop, implement and propose a common curricula, qualification framework and accreditation scheme at the European level, for training and skills upgrading of construction and green professionals on water efficiency and water energy nexus for building construction and retrofit.
Water scarcity is a serious problem for many regions of Europe with some 45% of European territory expected to face water scarcity problems by 2030, where damages caused by floods may increase five-fold by 2050. This is driving growing attention and increasing regulation on water efficiency and water management across Europe, being particularly important in cities and buildings in general, given the estimated water savings of 30%, with consequent reductions on energy and CO2 emissions (“The Blueprint to Safeguard Europe’s Water Resources”). The implementation of water and energy saving measures requires adequate training, capacity building and qualification of construction professionals, sustained on reliable and independent accreditation schemes attesting technical knowledge and social competences, towards market recognition and confidence. The project “WATTer Skills” aimed to develop, implement and propose a common curricula, qualification framework and accreditation scheme at the European level, for training and skills upgrading of construction and green professionals on water efficiency and water energy nexus for construction and retrofit in buildings. The harmonised water efficiency and water-energy nexus competences in building construction and retrofit, was achieved with two proposed qualification frameworks: the water efficiency technician (WET) and the water efficiency expert (WEE). This was materialised in 4 intellectual outputs (in 5 languages: English, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and Greek): IO1 - Setting the Perimeter and definition of the WATTer skills map, IO2 - European Qualification Framework, IO3 - Training Courses Curricula, Contents and Pilots and IO4 - Accreditation System based on European Qualification Framework and European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training, supported by 2 Handbooks with the training contents (six competence areas corresponding to 100 lecture hours for the WET and 4 competence areas corresponding to 50 lecture hours for the WEE) 5 transnational meetings (3 in-person and 2 online), 9 multiplier events (7 training pilots with 144 attendees and 60 lectured hours, 1 Infoday with 28 participants and 1 Final conference with more than 100 participants), the presence at 10 dissemination events (oral communications, poster presentations and scientific publications) and numerous parallel dedicated meetings with the national advisory boards and stakeholder groups. As project outcomes, it can be highlighted the signature of the Memorandum of Understanding by all partners, with a Roadmap of the WATTer Skills follow-up activities, namely the compromise of all partners in continuing the work on the possible integration of the proposed accreditation framework into the national catalogues of the consortium countries (Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece. In Portugal, another project outcome already guaranteed is the approval of the “long term strategy for building renovation” (Resolution of the Council of Ministers No 8-A/2021 of 3rd of February 2021), where it is stated that the qualification frameworks produced by the WATTer Skills consortium will be promoted. In addition, ADENE is making the effort to include this topic in the agenda and events of the current Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union.