Timber companies are being invited to apply for their share of £3.7m of government funding for training in sustainability and low carbon skills and technology.
The money has been secured from the Skills Funding Agency by Proskills, which was appointed as the the sector skills council (SSC) for the timber industry at the start of the year. It is match-funding, which means that companies have to come up with half of the cost of their proposed training initiative themselves to secure a government contribution.
Timber companies will also be in competition for the cash with businesses in the other industries for which Proskills is SSC, including furniture and building products. But the organisation said that training in such sustainability related areas as energy reduction, new environmental technologies, product performance, waste reduction and alternative fuels could be especially relevant to the wood sector.
“The skills developed through this programme will be vital as we adapt to the low carbon agenda,” said chief executive Terry Watts.
“Companies which are interested should contact us with their proposals and we will work with them to devise a training programme and secure the funds,” said Proskills communications executive Danielle O’Sullivan.
For more information contact: jonathan.ledger@proskills.co.uk or andrew.abaza@proskills.co.uk.
