Themes

Skills and training

Showcase - best practice
Our website of case studies to inform and inspire. Showcase highlights projects that contribute to creating better communities. These examples give practical insight into developing sustainable communities. Visit Showcase at showcase.homesandcommunities.co.uk Before creating Showcase we researched which sources of best practice knowledge are already used by sustainable communities practitioners and how we can make this better. We're grateful to our stakeholders for their help with this research.
Understanding Place-making free online course
Online course that provides a deeper understanding of place-making. You will work with built environment professionals, community workers and volunteers to gain a shared understanding of how to create and manage sustainable communities . The course is facilitated by an experienced tutor who will provide advice and guidance from start to finish. Discussion forums will provide feedback and help you to share ideas and experiences. Each online course consists of five facilitated workshops, which will help you to: Develop a real understanding of the term 'sustainable community' Explore the national and regional policy context and perspectives Consider the roles, responsibilities and skills of the various organisations and individuals responsible for delivery  * Note - this course used to be called ' In A Nutshell '
Train & Sustain trainers toolkit
Resources to deliver a sustainable communities workshop. A flexible electronic toolkit comprising materials to help provide a basic understanding of the sustainable communities agenda to your chosen audience. » Access Train & sustain
Eco-towns seminar series
This seminar series aimed to generate awareness and understanding of the Government’s Eco-towns initiative, and the skills needed to deliver it. We worked with the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) and the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) to deliver these events. The programme was launched in London on 14 December 2007. Between January and May 2008 eight regional seminars were facilitated, open to professionals involved in the creation of sustainable communities.
Report to consider impact of the recession on skills
We have launched a new study into skills gaps in key professions across the place-making sector. The study will assess how the recession has affected the supply and demand of skills in the sector. We have have commissioned ARUP to undertake this major piece of research that will provide the second cross-sector assessment of skills. All practitioners in the sector are invited to take part in the study. This study will update the findings of our first in-depth review of skills – Mind the Skills Gap (MSG) – launched in September 2007 and subsequent studies in light of the recession and policy changes. In 2007, MSG concluded that England faced a significant shortage of qualified professionals with the necessary skills between now and 2012. The market intelligence research will uncover detailed information on current skills gaps by profession and by region so that we can understand how skills issues vary between the regions. The study will provide the sector with the opportunity to: Understand how the recession has affected skills issues for the place-making sector Identify the numbers of people employed in the different occupational groups Assess the current supply and demand of skills, compare how this has changed since 2007 and establish whether the same range of issues are affecting all occupational groups Evaluate existing training provision Recommend how the market can bridge remaining skills gaps.
Urban Design & Streets Foundation Course
This three day course covers all the essential design issues from understanding policy to designing an inclusive scheme. This is an intensive three day course on 9, 10, & 12 February covering the fundamental ideas in Better Streets. You will learn about street design principles, risk, safety and liability, what makes a street cluttered and how to prevent this, and how to create inclusive public spaces. This session includes lectures, exercises and site visits.
Market intelligence research
We're undertaking a study to assess how the recession has affected the supply and demand of skills in the sector. The study will update the findings of our first in-depth review of skills – Mind the Skills Gap (MSG) which was launched in September 2007. In 2007, Mind the Skills Gap concluded that England faced a significant shortage of qualified professionals with the necessary skills between now and 2012.
Planning for Non-Planners - Leeds
Planning for non planners Planning for Non-Planners is for people from non-planning backgrounds who work with planners to help deliver regeneration objectives. This innovative two day programme comprises an interactive seminar day and a study tour. Participating in the programme will enable you to:
Planning for Non-Planners - Birmingham
Planning for non planners Planning for Non-Planners is for people from non-planning backgrounds who work with planners to help deliver regeneration objectives. This innovative two day programme comprises an interactive seminar day and a study tour. Participating in the programme will enable you to:
HCA Academy recognises the best in the sector
Training providers, academic institutions and professional bodies in the place-making sector are being invited to submit their products for recognition under a new scheme from the HCA Academy. The Place-making Recognition Scheme will create a list of recognised learning programmes, resources and best practice case studies. This will help practitioners to identify programmes that will equip them with the skills and knowledge to lead projects, improve partnerships and create great places.
University of Salford launches Foundation Degree in Sustainable Communities
Employers and students have celebrated the launch of the University of Salford’s new Foundation Degree in Sustainable Communities. The part-time, one afternoon a week course covers a range of issues including regeneration, community safety, local economies and worklessness, sustainable design, governance and community engagement.
Empowerment skills for all
Analysing gaps and constructing a learning framework Our report, Empowerment skills for all: Analysing gaps and constructing a learning framework (September 2009), finds that there is a widespread need and appetite for a broader approach to empowerment skills across front-line place-making occupations. The report proposes a new framework for developing these skills, taking account of the new National Occupational Standards in community development, and discusses the need for corresponding changes in the culture of statutory organisations.
Setting up and running focus groups
This seminar guides participants through the process of setting up and running focus groups. It includes their advantages, limitations and when to use them; designing and recruiting a focus group; understanding how to conduct them; the types of questions to achieve the most productive results; and analysing the data.

New approach to training and development required to deliver places in future
At a national conference in Sheffield Sir Bob Kerslake, Chief Executive of the Homes and Communities Agency, called for more practical courses with ‘on the job training’ to equip emerging housing and regeneration professionals with a broader range of skills. The event – ‘ Sustainable communities: what’s next for the skills agenda? ’ - hosted by the HCA Academy and Sheffield Hallam University, explored employers’ skills needs and assessed how higher education institutions can contribute to the skills agenda.
Sustainable Communities: What next for the skills agenda?
Five years on from the Egan Review, this free conference will explore what’s expected of practitioners and employers within the sustainable communities sector and consider the types of skills required to address current challenges. Strong skills and the transfer of knowledge between professionals are central to meeting the needs of local communities and we're leading the way by developing the Delivering Better Skills for Better Places action plan to co-ordinate the sectors efforts to tackle skills shortages. This interactive conference will focus on the ways higher education can provide practitioners and employers with skills and workplace competencies. If you are a housing, regeneration, planning, landscape or urban design professional this conference will provide you with the chance to discuss the opportunities and challenges of employer engagement in professional learning and development.
Mind the Skills Gap policy update
We published Mind the Skills Gap in Autumn 2007. Since its publication, major policy statements and spending commitments have been made that have implications for the future demand and supply of professionals who are central to the delivery of sustainable communities. This policy update is available in the list on right. These include: Comprehensive Spending Review (2007) Housing Green Paper (2007) Callcutt Review of Housebuilding (2007) Housing and Regeneration Act (2008) Review of Sub-national Economic Development and Regeneration (2007).
Skills for Better Places award category
Category finalists JOINT CATEGORY WINNER: Renaissance Consortium, a partnership between Adactus Housing Association, Lovell and Investors in the Community
How to Turn a Place Around - Effective Regeneration
Retail-led regeneration exhausted? How do you manage and deliver the change your town or city needs to turn it around? This one day workshop will take both a strategic and practical approach to revitalising underperforming centres, and look at all stages of the process from the initial proposal through managing and delivering real change.
Regeneration students celebrate success
Leaders and mangers from the North West have been honoured at a graduation ceremony at Bridgewater Hall in Manchester. 74 students were presented with the Institute for Leadership and Management Level 5 and Level 7 certificates in Leading Sustainable Communities by Professor Peter Roberts. Professor Roberts, Chair of the HCA Academy’s steering board, said: “I’m delighted to see a wide range of interests and occupations represented here today, from housing associations to the voluntary sector, planners, environmental practitioners and regeneration specialists to name a few. This course is all about improving skills such as leadership, relationship building and influencing, as well as providing a greater awareness of the entire sustainable communities agenda. It also offers an unparrelled opportunity for people from different sectors and professions to learn collectively, to debate the latest issues and to share ideas and experience.” Raising Our Game student Annie Merry, Director of Faiths4Change said: “The Raising Our Game programme has given my professional knowledge and capacity received a massive boost. I completed the Level 7 Leading Sustainable Communities course in 2007 and my organisation has benefited from grants of over £800k as a result of creating a revised business plan during the course.” Raising Our Game is a national integrated learning that enables participants to benchmark themselves against a set of competencies including: • Managing personal effectiveness and time • Demonstrating a broad range of knowledge • Building strong co-operative relationships • Utilising appropriate techniques to investigate issues • Persuading and negotiating to achieve results • Getting the most out of people and resources It also provides a greater awareness of the sustainable communities agenda.  
Roundtable 1: The Skills Crunch?
Times are tough. Which regeneration skills will be required to ease the impacts of the downturn and harness the potential of the recovery? This round-table debate is the first of our series of three Changing Climate debates in conjunction with Regeneration & Renewal . The debates ask senior figures from regeneration to address the challenges the sector faces in the coming years.
Delivering better skills for better places
Leading on tackling current and future skills gaps in partnership with the sector’s key players The delivering better skills for better places action plan is led by the HCA, with participation and support from key organisations across the sector, all with a role in its design and delivery. It builds on many of the successful projects and national, regional and local initiatives already underway by some of the partner organisations. Each partner has been working towards similar ambitions and delivering better skills for better places combines these energies to achieve those ambitions.
Planning for Non-Planners
Two day course to help those from a non-planning background to understand the planning system. The course will help you Understand how your day-to-day responsibilities are affected by planning issues Identify how you can engage better with the planning system Gain a better understanding of how far the planning system can contribute to successful and sustainable regeneration The course is composed of interactive seminar sessions and group workshops. There are also study tours, where you get the chance to use your knowledge to assess local development sites from a planning perspective. You can participate in two ways: Public sessions open to all Tailor-made group sessions Upcoming open sessions of the course Birmingham – 30 & 31 March 2010 Leeds – 6 & 7 April 2010 There are more details of each event in the links alongside.
Skills for the Future European Symposium Report
An event held in November 2006 produced key best practice case studies. The Skills for the Future event was held on 9-10 November 2006. The report and case studies, which formed the background to the event, examine the skills gaps that exist in sustainable place making and explore solutions. The nine case studies in this report are featured in detail on Showcase - best practice website .
Mind the Skills Gap research
Key report highlighing the skills we need for sustainable communities. This major piece of research was undertaken by Arup on our behalf. Building on the work of others - including Ernst & Young, DTZ, York Consulting, Asset Skills, CIS and CABE - the study provides the first cross-sector assessment of supply and demand of skills required to deliver sustainable communities. It provides detailed information on current and forecasted labour shortages and skills gaps, by profession and by region. Building sustainable communities depends on the efforts of a wide range of occupations, including architecture, planning, civil engineering, surveying, housing, community development, neighbourhood management, economic development and increasingly environmental management. This study provides the sector with an opportunity to assess what we’re doing to tackle these issues and ensure that we accelerate our programmes to meet market demand.
Supporting effective skills development
Enabling sustainable communities: supporting effective skills development for current and future core built environment professionals Kingston University Professor Sarah Syce Investigates whether the skills required for stakeholder consultation processes are present amongst professional practitioners and local community stakeholders. Evaluates what skills are the most effective in ensuring positive stakeholder engagement. Where clear gaps are identified recommendations will be made as to the types of skills required and how they should be delivered. 
Supporting skills for sustainable communities
Motivating, engaging, leading and supporting skills and knowledge for sustainable communities - applying models of sustainable localised economies Cardiff University Professor Terence Marsden Develop a model which people and organisations can question, or interrogate existing data to find out what is required if a community wants to achieve sustainability. Model will be based upon a virtual community. Once developed the model will be piloted within one community - this will lead to further development of the framework.
Skills and knowledge builder for sustainable communities
SAKS: skills and knowledge builder for sustainable communities Anglia Ruskin University Ms Ann Hockey  Development of a set of skills assessment and learning materials to help sustainable community professionals improve their generic skills and knowledge. Identify the extent and nature of generic skills and knowledge gaps. Outline methods in which resources might be extended to a wider group of organisations, communities and individuals.
Situated learning
Assessing the practice and potential of situated learning in the work of building sustainable communities University of the West of England Dr Ian Smith  Assess the relative importance of different forms of learning (formal v non-formal v informal). Explore the opportunities and constraints on both learning and implementing learning in work around building sustainable communities. Convert research into learning materials that can assist professionals with work on the sustainable communities agenda.
Skills for sustainable communities research
Skills for sustainable communities Queen's University Belfast Dr Frank Gaffikin  Aims to identify the priority skills, knowledge and abilities needed to make a sustainable community. Aims to identify good and bad practice in community-building in divided cities. Uses four case studies; communities are encouraged to ‘learn by doing'. Aims to translate lessons into recommendations and policy proposals.

Raising competencies
The challenge of learning from what works in the development of sustainable communities: closing the skills gap by raising competencies Napier University and University of Salford Dr Mark Deakin  Aims to learn about what generic skills are needed to shift the knowledge base. Aims to demonstrate how a shifting knowledge base (from subject-specific to generic) can be used by core occupations (architecture, planning, engineering and surveying) to raise social competencies.
ESRC Sustainable Communities Skills Research series
A partnership with the Economic and Social Research Council to invest £800,000 into ground-breaking research on skills for sustainable communities.  This joint initiative will help formulate policies and practices for developing the skills and knowledge needed to create vibrant, prosperous and attractive communities. Researchers based at UK higher education research institutions and other research institutions were eligible for one-year research grants of between £15,000 and £100,000. In total £800,000 was available. For more information view the programmme website at http://gs.strath.ac.uk/suscoms
What are generic skills?
To deliver sustainable communities, people need the right generic skills, behaviours and knowledge to accompany their technical skills. Project management Defining project objectives and providing the drive and determination to deliver successful, measurable outcomes. Building a project team and getting them to work towards delivery of a common goal. Using project plans and critical path analysis to assign tasks and timescales, monitor progress and quality of outcomes.
Learning Laboratories
We've been working with regional partners on live projects to pilot innovations and test out new ways of working. This will enable us to: Understand the skills deficits in each region, both generic and professional Identify how to increase skills levels and build capacity Develop an understanding of what changes behaviour  Learn lessons from past programmes, present new approaches and allow sharing and transfer elsewhere Demonstrate how knowledge, skills and experience can influence change Build an understanding of each region's position and through this the overall national picture Our regional projects are listed to the right, as well as the evaluation reports to accompany them.
Sustainable Communities Resource Pack
In partnership with the Federation for Community Development Learning , we created and produced a resource pack for community practitioners. The series was produced to support the National Open College Network (NOCN) regional and national programmes.
Skills Navigator - diagnostic tool
An online tool to analyse and improve generic skills for people who create and maintain communities. The tool is aimed at sustainable community professionals and practitioners in the private and public sectors, and will help them recognise generic skills gaps and provide advice on how to bridge them. The tool has been developed and is currently being tested. Sign up to our newsletter or keep an eye on the site - we'll post a link to access the tool when it's ready. The tool will also support individuals and organisations in identifying and planning their knowledge and skills development, and will signpost the learning and skills provision available regionally and nationally.
Brownfield Skills Strategy
We are working to develop a strategy to boost skills that will ensure the effective and efficient reuse of brownfield land. The public consultation period for the Draft Brownfield Skills Strategy, which makes 25 recommendations, closed on 11 June 2008. It is expected that the final strategy will be published in 2009. » Summary of the 46 responses » Pledges of action » Background
Taking the Lead short course
A two-day workshop designed to improve professional practice for senior managers. If you're keen to develop your leadership skills, this programme for leaders and senior managers will improve your: Strategic thinking People skills Leadership in complex environments 'A really useful course...reassured me I'm doing the right things, with some excellent techniques and advice to sharpen up'
Leitch Review
12 Dec 2006 - Govt commissioned review to identify the optimal skills mix for 2020 in order that we can maximise economic growth, raise productivity and improve social justice. The Government commissioned the Leitch Review to identify the UK's optimal skills mix for 2020 in order that the UK can maximise economic growth, raise productivity and improve social justice. The final report, published on 5 December 2006, recommends far-reaching changes to the UK's education and training system to make it responsive to employer needs, and to ensure the UK remains globally competitive.

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