Let's Get Ready to Build a More Sustainable City

At our heart, we see the commercial built environment as a canvas where everyone can shape the future of sustainability and play a vital role in creating low-carbon office spaces across Central London.

We invite all Londoners—from developers and suppliers, to the next generation of professionals—to engage with us. Our Hub highlights the top recruitment, upskilling, reskilling, and diversity programmes available to you, designed to empower both current and aspiring workers in the city.

Join us as we work together to build a greener, more sustainable London!

The Skyline Skills Hub is aimed at the four groups of people who we believe have the biggest role to play in using their skills to green the built environment.

Employers

For business leaders, building owners, and contractors who are interested in adopting and integrating green practices into their daily operations.

Workforce

For employees, supply chain, career changers, job seekers, and sole traders looking to develop green skills and pursue sustainable careers.

New Entrants

For young Londoners, career switchers, career advisers, teachers, and parents who are guiding the next generation towards careers.

Policymakers

For local authorities, government departments, philanthropic organisations, and training providers shaping sustainable policies.

Begin exploring the main ideas that drive our industry, enhancing your knowledge and expertise as you navigate through our Hub

Built Environment

The built environment includes all human-made structures and spaces, such as residential, commercial, industrial buildings, infrastructure, public spaces, transportation networks, and utilities.

Green Skills

These vary from person to person but, fundamentally, we mean the core skills needed to deliver action. These range from technical skills such as renewable energy procurement and assessing embodied carbon projects, to soft skills like advocating for sustainability throughout the supply chain and the key leadership skills needed to drive change and embed sustainability in organisations.

Green Built Environment

Worldwide, buildings are responsible for around 40% of energy and process-related CO2 emissions, 50% of all extracted materials, 33% of water consumption and 35% of generated waste. Other environmental impacts include resource depletion; air, water and land pollution and biodiversity loss.

By 2050, the global population will increase by 27% to 9.8 billion. By 2060 the global building floor area is expected to double, catapulting all environmental, social and economic impacts associated with the built environment. With this in mind, a green built environment protects and enhances people, places and the natural environment, and is critical to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and tackling the climate crisis.

Environmental priorities are balanced alongside socio-economic development, including economic growth, human health and equity. This holistic approach to sustainable development should be applied throughout the entire lifecycle of a building — from material sourcing, to design, construction, operation and end of life.

Commercial Built Environment

The commercial built environment includes London’s office buildings where people work.

Why focus on green built environment skills?

26,000

Over 26,000 extra construction workers are needed in Greater London by 2026.

100,000

The UK is anticipating that over 100,000 people will need to be recruited and upskilled to carry out the work required.

76%

In London, buildings contribute 76% of greenhouse gas emissions. 95% of emissions over the next 30 years come from existing buildings.

10%

By 2050, 10% of London’s jobs will be green, but the workforce is not growing fast enough to meet the demand for these roles.

90%

Skyline Taskforce member and over 90% of industry respondents agree there is a major skills gap in green jobs for meeting net zero targets.

Who are the people behind the Skyline Skills Hub

The Skyline Skills Hub was founded by the Skills for a Sustainable Skyline Taskforce, a collaboration of over 350 organisations from across the built environment.

Our mission is to boost the supply of green skilled workers for Central London’s sustainable commercial buildings.

The Skyline Skills Hub is run by industry experts who continually review and update the Hub so that our messages and resources remain fresh and relevant.

We believe that, through collaboration, we can drive the green skills agenda to ensure that London has a skilled and diverse workforce, equipped and empowered to build and maintain sustainable office buildings.

Testimonials

Impact of Green Skills and Sustainability

Discover how individuals and organisations are embracing the green skills and sustainability revolution. Hear first-hand how green skills initiatives are transforming careers and contributing to a greener built environment. These stories highlight the real-world impact of our efforts and inspire others to join us on the journey towards a sustainable future.

Janey Douglas, Head of Sustainability for UK Capital Markets, JLL

Building Owner,Business Leader,Diversity and inclusivity,Employers

For 9 years, I worked in JLL's capital markets team in Scotland, advising on commercial...

Megan Adlen, group sustainability director at Travis Perkins

Diversity and inclusivity,Employability,Employability diversity and inclusivity,Innovation and sustainability,Workforce

“Smaller companies have smaller teams they won’t necessarily have in-house teams who understand...

Harry Mcgillivary, Trainee, EE Smith Contract

Career changer,Employability diversity and inclusivity,New Entrants

“Truly thankful for the opportunities .. we have been involved in fantastic projects which have been...

Charles Begley, Chief Executive, London Property Alliance

Case studies and testimonials,Central London’s Local authorities,Development and training,Diversity and inclusivity,Employers,Innovation and sustainability,Policymakers

"Industry must work collaboratively to bring about change."...

Danna Walker, Founder and Chief Executive, Built By Us

Apprenticeships,Career advisors,Career influencers,Case studies and testimonials,Diversity and inclusivity,Education and Training Provider,Employability,New Entrants,New Talent,Parents,Teachers,Testimonials,Training and development

“I believe that everyone can make a positive contribution to the built environment, it’s too...

Charles Begley, Chief Executive, London Property Alliance

Case studies and testimonials,Central London’s Local authorities,Development and training,Diversity and inclusivity,Employers,Innovation and sustainability,Policymakers

"Industry must work collaboratively to bring about change."...

Akbar Zaman, Trainee, Redrow

New Entrants,New Talent

"What were you doing before becoming a Redrow apprentice? I actually got into bricklaying by chance...

Dr Bola Abisogun OBE, Founder & CEO, Digital Twin Skills Academy

Apprenticeships,Career advisors,Career influencers,Case studies and testimonials,Diversity and inclusivity,Educators and Training Providers,Employability,New Entrants,New Talent,Parents,Teachers,Testimonials,Training and development

The Digital Twins Skills Academy is an emerging EdTech vehicle for ‘positive’ social change and...

Janey Douglas, Head of Sustainability for UK Capital Markets, JLL

Building Owner,Business Leader,Diversity and inclusivity,Employers

For 9 years, I worked in JLL's capital markets team in Scotland, advising on commercial...

Lauren Cunningham, Undergraduate Civil Engineer for WSP

Career changer,Employability diversity and inclusivity,New Entrants,Testimonials

“With a career in construction I was able to get my degree whilst I was working and learning on the...

Harry Mcgillivary, Trainee, EE Smith Contract

Career changer,Employability diversity and inclusivity,New Entrants

“Truly thankful for the opportunities .. we have been involved in fantastic projects which have been...

Keith Bottomley, Deputy Policy Chairman, City of London Corporation, and Chair of the Skills for a Sustainable Skyline Taskforce

Business Leader,Case studies and testimonials,Central Government & GLA,Development and training,Diversity and inclusivity,Innovation and sustainability,Policymakers

"London lacks a workforce with the skills needed to carry out new, innovative construction methods...

Shenaaz Chenia, CEO, YouthBuild Ventures UK Ltd

Career advisors,Career influencers,Case studies and testimonials,Diversity and inclusivity,Educators and Training Providers,New Entrants,New Talent,Parents,Teachers,Testimonials

“The young people we serve – who we call ‘opportunity youth’ face huge challenges and barriers to...

General resources

What does existing best practice look like for green skills across Central London’s commercial built environment?

Whether you’re an experienced professional in the built environment, a school leaver, a career switcher or a guardian of a young person looking for a potential career, organisations across the sector are already running a huge range of green skills programmes and initiatives.

You can find a tailored selection of best practice resources and existing opportunities in each section of the Hub.

‘BE Sustainable’ after-school clubs

The Built Environment Schools Trust (BE Schools Trust) has partnered with the Supply Chain Sustainability...

King’s Trust construction and engineering programmes

Our employability programmes can help you gain the skills and experience needed to succeed in...

Voyage HyPE: Horizons Youth Project for the Environment

The Voyage Jobs Club and & HyPE programmes are launching soon, providing young people with...

GESTA (Green Energy Skills Training Alliance) and the London Academy of Sustainable Construction

GESTA is the Green Energy Skills Training Alliance. It is a collaborative alliance comprising training...

Decoding the jargon: explore our glossary to understand key terms

Low carbon or decarbonised economy

A low carbon, or decarbonised economy, is an economy that causes low levels of greenhouse gas emissions, particularly when compared with our current economy which emits high levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. A low carbon economy is one that has decoupled delivery of goods and services from the burning of fossil fuels.  

Sustainability

Everything that we need for our survival and well-being depends, either directly or indirectly, on our natural environment. To pursue sustainability is to create and maintain the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony to support present and future generations.

UN Sustainable Development Goals

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: organisations all over the world are using them as an easily understood and communicable framework and are adopting their own objectives and targets aligned with the themes of the SDGs. The 17 SDGs provide a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future, as well as an approach for organisations and governments to frame sustainability issues.

Zero carbon economy

A zero-carbon economy is one where emissions from the commercial and industrial sector are reduced to zero while the economy thrives.

Whole Life Carbon

Whole Life Carbon emissions are the sum total of all the associated GHG emissions and removals, for the embodied, operational and disposal of a product through its whole life cycle.