Leadership and Management for Net-Zero Buildings

The UK is facing a massive Net Zero transition across its entire economy, and the built environment is no exception. As 2050 fast approaches, with pressure from all sides to meet ambitious but legally binding net zero targets, the sector is transforming the way we not only procure, design and construct buildings, but also how we operate and maintain them over their entire lifetime.

As such, the entire workforce is in urgent need of upskilling to ensure every individual is fully equipped to address the pressing and complex challenges ahead.

This new course, one of four launched by LSBU, presents an innovative model for teaching the skills and knowledge necessary to lead and manage teams tasked with designing and delivering the net zero buildings of the future.

LSBU is proud to have created a ground-breaking, pilot programme with the support of the Office for Students (OFS) new Lifelong Loan Entitlement (LLE) scheme – meaning students on this short, effective degree level course can apply for a student loan to cover fees, irrespective of past loans and learning pathways.

Course content and structure has been developed in close partnership with leading employers in the construction sector, including Building Services Research and Information Association (BSRIA), Climate Framework, London Energy, Ashden, Clarion Housing Group, Lambeth Council and Southwark Council – ensuring highly relevant, actionable skills that can be acquired alongside a professional career and rapidly applied within the workplace.

Leadership and Management for Net Zero Buildings, one of four short courses in this programme, is designed for mid-career professionals seeking to advance to team leadership or more strategic roles within the built environment. The course covers the global context of climate change and global energy supplies; the definition, boundaries, challenges and opportunities of Net Zero within the built environment; and the systems-change drivers, from national legislation to local policy and town planning as well as energy networks, grids, transportation and urban contexts. It teaches the complex skills required to develop Net Zero energy strategies, including lifecycle planning (operational / embodied carbon) and responsible sourcing and supply-chain management for all project types, whether new build, retrofit or RMI.

During the immersive, one-semester course you’ll study how to: strategically manage risk; seek, analyse and communicate information; use data to make a compelling business case for Net Zero; and lead collaboratively to maintain the ‘Golden Thread’ throughout the project and for the whole of the life of the building.

The course is delivered through lectures, workshops and private study, and involves individual and group projects, site visits, industry-leading guest speakers, and hands-on learning with real-life application.

The course will run concurrently with the three other Net Zero short courses in this programme, ensuring students benefit from insights from other roles within the built environment that impact on their own decision-making and ways of working.

The other courses are:

• Procuring Net Zero Buildings
• Designing Net Zero Buildings
• Operating Net Zero Buildings

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