Sustainability & Performance

Study on ecologically sustainable construction - Analysis of training and further training courses

Client: Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN)

Initial situation 

The Swiss planning and construction industry has a major impact in terms of energy and resource consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, construction generates a large proportion of Switzerland's waste. There are currently various political efforts to address these issues (e.g. the postulate "Dismantling the barriers to resource efficiency and the circular economy" by Councillor of States Ruedi Noser). Against this backdrop, the FOEN commissioned pom+ to conduct a study on education and training (tertiary education) in the field of ecologically sustainable construction. 

Procedure 

The study identifies the technical and social competencies that are relevant for professionals who design and plan ecologically sustainable and recyclable buildings and civil engineering structures. These include architects, civil engineers and other professional groups. In a further step, the study compares the current tertiary education offer in Switzerland with the competence requirements for ecologically sustainable construction. For this purpose, 32 study programmes at Swiss (technical) universities and 55 continuing education programmes were analysed. The analysis was supplemented and corroborated with a written survey and structured oral interviews with experts from education, industry and associations. Recommendations for educational institutions, associations and the federal government were derived from the findings and integrated into an implementation roadmap. 

Services provided by pom+Consulting AG 

  • Overall project management and coordination with an education partner 
  • Technical analyses in the thematic fields of ecologically sustainable building and education 
  • Systematic analysis and evaluation of offers in Swiss tertiary education 
  • Interviews, surveys and workshops with experts from education, business, associations and the federal government 
  • Development of recommendations for action 
  • Writing of the study report 

Your contact persons

Jürg Schneider

Head of Service Unit Circularity

MSc ETH Environmental Engineering

Executive MBA UNIL

Location Zurich