by 4theManagement | Aug 8, 2023 | News, Reports
Green Economy Skills Roundtable 2023
Partners from across South West Wales came together to discuss some new initiatives to support the development of green skills across a variety of sectors.
This roundtable is part of a series of conversations focused on the region’s green economy. The Green Economy Conference, happening in November, aims to bring together businesses and organisations to discuss the growth of the green economy in South West Wales. This roundtable featured discussions on various projects and initiatives related to skills development in areas such as renewable energy, construction, digital sector, and more.
The focus is on preparing young people for future green careers, raising awareness about the opportunities in the green economy, and bridging the skills gap in the industry. Collaboration and working together across the region are seen as crucial for success.
The projects, initiatives and themes are captured in the event report below.
Projects, Initiatives and Themes
Rob Holdcroft, Development Coordinator for the Regional Learning and Skills Partnership.
- A number of projects have been authorised via the Swansea Bay City Deal Skills and Talent programme.
- The Pembrokeshire Passport to Employment project will teach students between 5 – 19 year old about the renewable sector and opportunities within the sector.
- The Low Carbon Net Zero Awareness Raising pilot will raise awareness of zero and low carbon technologies in the construction sector.
- The Digital Sector pilot in Neath Port Talbot will demonstrate the need for enhanced digital skills in the green and renewables sector.
- The Swansea University-led Battery Manufacturing Skills pilot will build on skill gaps in battery manufacturing and supply chain by providing training, upskilling, and re-skilling to higher skilled students and the local workforce.
- All of these projects and more have come from research to identify skills gaps and new skills that will be required for a greener economy.
- We need to engage industry. We can create skills, and a skilled workforce but if those jobs aren’t available because industry isn’t moving at the pace they need to, it could create stagnation. We need the industry to move on this as well.
Kathryn Dunstan, Director of Partnerships, NPTC Group
- We’re seeing changes that are leading to uncertainty. We’re finding it difficult to pin down what’s going to be needed. There’s a lot of opportunities but nothing is quote tangible yet.
- How can we prepare for something we don’t really know for certain how it might look like in each of our regions?
- We’re involved in managing and supporting the training programs for the Homes as Power Stations project and developing resources for schools and colleges to share.
- The college will launch the Net Zero Academy in the Autumn. We need adult learners and upskilling of existing employees to immediately fill the short term gaps in labour markets at the moment.
- The Academy will also showcase the career pathways possible for younger learners and that green careers can be developed.
Andrew Selby, Electrical Commercial Coordinator, Gower College Swansea
- Preparing young people is the right way to go, particularly primary school-level.
- We’re seeing a massive demand for upskilling, with over 300 people taking the Solar PV and Battery Charging Course course over the last 18 months.
- It’s crucial to understand what’s required from a school level and how that feeds in to higher level skills.
- There’s an urgent need for something like a renewables apprenticeship and pathway for higher degrees. Upskilling is good for supporting the market, but we need to identify needs and what pathways and career developments are available for young people.
Donna Griffiths, Business Development Manager, Bouygues
Arwyn Williams, Head of Faculty for Engineering, Computing, Construction & HE, Pembrokeshire College
- Pembrokeshire College have engaged with two secondary schools to deliver a GCSE equivalent program to learn about renewable energy within industry.
- The local Education Authority is leading on a skills barometer working with primary schools. Pembrokeshire college is developing materials to fit in with the new curriculum for Wales and to raise awareness of opportunities in the green sector.
- Engaging with parents is equally as important as engaging with children from a young age. Parents need to understand the potential careers their children could go for.
- Pembrokeshire College is working with the Seren Network to provide more activities across the region.
- They are hosting a robotics club for primary and secondary school leaners to learn about coding robots from basic to advanced functions.
- Destination Renewables is a pioneering program delivered to 16 to 18 year olds to engage them with industry partners and learn about a range of jobs from project management, procurement to engineering and construction.
- The college has recently gained funding to roll out similar programs across the region so local colleges can engage with local industries relevant to them and their area.
- There’s a lot of activity happening in the region in regards to green energy. There are many companies in the region that are really struggling to recruit individuals with the skills.
Bruce Fellowes, Head of GCS Training, Gower College Swansea
- Gower College’s Energy Centre is involved in a lot of renewable skills, such as solar, thermal, air source, ground source heat pumps, Solar PV charging.
- The Energy Centre also offers battery storage, electrical vehicle charging and service in e-bike maintenance.
- We’re looking to expand into wind turbines and hydrogen by sharing practice with Neath Port Talbot and Pembrokeshire.
- Staff are currently on courses themselves to understand these new technologies more because it’s ever-changing.
- We need to become more involved with schools and parents. Parents can be very influential in what their children do.
- If parents have a better understanding about green skills and green careers, then that can help with younger ages making career choices.
Sue Poole, Young Dragons
- We’ve just completed our Swansea Enterprise Challenge, with over 500 young people going to Castle Square to sell the wares they’ve been making in school.
- There was an unbelievable amount of children with a focus on climate change. Many were making products out of reusable materials, growing plants, etc.
- The new project Futurescape is a new initiative aimed at tackling future skills shortages within the building services sector.
- The project will see VR used in the classroom to introduce young people to the variety of roles within the construction sector they may not be aware of.
- It’s possible that many of the jobs that these young people will be taking possibly don’t exist as yet.
- We need to engage with teachers and parents to introduce them to skills needed in the future.
This roundtable was part of a series that bring together experts to discuss the green economy relating to a number of themes. These roundtables were held in the run-up to the Regional Green Economy Conference 2023, taking place on the 22nd November.
The Regional Green Economy Conference is a major regional conference and exhibition, new for 2023, bringing together projects, businesses, organisations and key stakeholders in South West Wales’ green economy, together with people of all ages and from all walks of life, for an unmissable day of connecting, showcasing and knowledge sharing, with the goal of getting everyone working together for a resilient, sustainable future for the region.
Click here to book your place at the Regional Green Economy Conference!
by 4theManagement | Jul 27, 2023 | Circular Economy, Our Events, Reports
EVENTS > GREEN ECONOMY CONFERENCE
Green Economy Conference 2023
WEDNESDAY 22ND NOVEMBER 2023 | Swansea Arena
The first Green Economy Conference and Exhibition at the Swansea Arena was an incredible opportunity for businesses and organisations to share knowledge and make connections, with the aim of co-creating a resilient future.
Be sure to save the date for the next Green Economy Conference, taking place again in the Swansea Arena on the 19th November 2024.
Regional Green Economy Roundtables
In the run-up to our Regional Green Economy Conference & Exhibition, we brought together experts for a series of roundtables based around the conference themes.
by 4theManagement | Jan 19, 2023 | News, Our Events, Reports
EVENTS > SWANSEA CONFERENCE 2023
Wednesday 29th March | Swansea Arena | Free to Attend
The third annual Swansea Conference was an incredible day, showcasing everything that’s great about Swansea and hearing from the people, organisations and businesses who are making change happen.
This Event is Organised By
This year’s theme was all about Supporting Local – buying from local businesses, supporting each other, and keeping more of our spending in the local economy.
Exciting new visitor attractions, slick new office spaces and initiatives to attract new traders were just some of the things discussed in the Swansea Regeneration Update at the Swansea Conference.
City centre retailers with a stronger online presence, an increased appetite for visiting physical shops, and the promise of increased footfall in the city centre created a positive picture during a panel discussion at the Swansea Conference.
What are the challenges faced by local food producers, and how can we get more local food onto local plates?
An initiative to create a new creative network for Swansea was announced at this year’s Swansea Conference in a panel discussion that also explored the city’s cultural assets and how to make the most of them.
If you’re a city centre retailer, a regional business, a community project or a not-for-profit organisation, the Swansea Conference is the perfect place to raise your profile and make connections. Registration for the 2024 Conference is now open!
We had over 100 businesses and organisations exhibiting, a great line-up of thoughtleaders on the main stage, and the best networking opportunity in the area.
by 4theManagement | Dec 6, 2022 | Creative Economy, Reports
Swansea Creative Focus 2022
Swansea Creative Focus exists to connect people, share updates on what’s happening, and co-create new projects and initiatives related to the creative sector in Swansea.
At 4theRegion we still believe that the creative industries present a huge opportunity for jobs, entrepreneurship, regeneration and wellbeing across Swansea.
We know that many partners across the city, and many creative people, are working to make the vision of Swansea as a creative, digital and cultural hotspot, a reality!
After a three year gap, we reconvened Swansea Creative Focus at Elysium Bar and Gallery with the aim to connect the dots and find out what is needed, what’s happening and how we can promote and increase creative enterprise across the city.
Actions and Ideas
- Invest in making a digital hub for the area and have an enthusiastic, salaried, creative administrator to seek out opportunities, collect them and not let them die out.
- Take a Pan-Wales approach to a creative network, where all regions are treated equally. No working in silos.
- “The best ideas come through circular, community oriented groups. I want Swansea to thrive creatively like other cities such as Bristol.”
- More creative spaces would be useful for networking, exploring creative opportunities, workshops and could be a platform to share resources and knowledge.
- We need a creative hub, a central space where people can work together, run social events and give out information, just to make sure it reaches the largest audience it can.
- An open mic night, similar to a show and tell where you just jump on and ask ‘can someone help me with this?’ could be a good way to network and share knowledge.
- Let’s connect our creativity to whole new audiences and really create that groundswell of interest.
- There’s a huge enthusiasm for the idea of connecting the creative community in the region.
- With so many people having ideas and wanting to do something, translating this into action is the biggest challenge. We’re wiser having these types of meetings and is an important part of the process.
- People in Swansea have an amazing mindset and willingness to help each other out. If you look at creative projects in other cities, there are lots of disparate studios that are always competing. We don’t seem to have that as much in Swansea.
- Creative Cardiff works on the world stage, are doing great things and are visible. We need Swansea to also be on the world stage and enable us as a city to tap into a lot more opportunities.
Education and Opportunities
- We need to educate our future creatives about the opportunities in the sector.
- People need to have opportunities without having to leave the area!
- We need to help students as they leave university. That first year is critical for people to decide whether they stay or leave Swansea. We need them to stay and keep them here in order for creativity to thrive.
- Everyone needs to be able to access mentorship, employment, collaboration, support and advice.
- Education has been all about STEM subjects. Why is it just STEM? It should be STEAM, we put an ‘A’ in it, because we need art in there.
- There’s a great potential and gap for creative activities and companies here.
- We know there are opportunities out there, but unless you hear about them, you may not know what channels to go through to get to it.
- We need to harness the capacity of digital technology. We work around it all the time, we just need the capacity to make it reachable and comfortable, so that it’s routine.
Businesses
- All companies need creative people, not just the creative sector
- The best ideas come through circular, community-oriented groups. I want Swansea to thrive creatively like other cities such as Bristol.
- We need to support entrepreneurial opportunities for artists.
Creative people really need to come to the forefront, to show us what they’re made of and how they feed into all sort of industries.
All companies need creative people, not just creative companies.
Wellbeing
- Creativity is fundamental to being human. We should use creativity for wellbeing.
- Art is used by many people as a healing process and also as a way to tackle community isolation.
- Once you bring disparate groups together, you create opportunities for shared learning and peer to peer support.
- Our USP should be “Community Kindness”
- Blending different communities, cultures and ensuring that creative practice is accessible to a diverse range of people is vital.
We really believe that the creative sector has a big role to play, in creating opportunities for young people, in making Swansea and the wider region a vibrant place to live, and in pooling skills and talent for the benefit of local communities!
We’re keen to keep this conversation going and to uncover opportunities to ensure that Swansea develops and thrives as a creative city. 4theRegion aims to join the dots and amplify, support and connect what’s already happening in the region.
Email Zoe@4theRegion.org.uk with the subject line “Creative Focus” if you have any projects or opportunities you would like to share with us. Also please make you are subscribed to the 4theRegion newsletter and Eventbrite profile to be notified of any future events!
by 4theManagement | Oct 20, 2022 | Circular Economy, Reports
Circular & Green Economy Sector Forum October 2022
4theRegion members met with businesses and organisations across South West Wales to share their insights surrounding the circular economy, ambitions for the future and emerging opportunities to collaborate
We believe that South West Wales must move away from our linear economy (make, use, dispose), closing the loop to conserve resources and ensure long term sustainability.
We were joined by Dr. Jennifer Rudd, programme manager for the Circular Economy Innovation Communities (CEIC).
Jennifer is familiar with the circular economy from a chemical perspective, working on solar panels, the hydrogen economy and carbon dioxide to fuels. Jennifer has communicated the climate emergency through national talks, radio and printed media and gave a TEDx talk in 2019. She is regularly invited to give talks on climate change mitigation and climate change education and was nominated for two Swansea University awards in 2020.
You can catch up on the discussion surrounding the circular economy in our region by watching the event recording or reading the event notes.
Catch up on the full event recording, hear about Jennifer Rudd’s background in the circular economy and learn about CEIC’s fully funded, 10-month programme, which is designed to give organisations the most practical, straightforward and effective way to implement sustainable change for the future and achieve social, economic and environmental goals.
Subscribe to our Youtube channel and save our Circular Economy playlist to be notified when new videos are uploaded.
Challenges
- If we need people to understand the climate emergency and circular economy, we need to bring them with us, rather than dictating it to them.
- How can we help major housing associations set up specialist decarbonisation centres and wider access to retrofit schemes?
- It’s easy to design things into a new building, but far more difficult and complex in retrofitting.
- The circular economy is not just about resource-use and manufacturing, it’s about considering new, regenerative ways of working.
- One person’s waste can be another’s valuable material.
- It would be an interesting challenge to ask what businesses’ biggest waste products are and to see how it can be repurposed.
- How could we link up these businesses and see how their byproducts can be used by others?
Education
- CEIC offer a fully funded, 10-month programme to give organisations effective way to implement sustainable change for the future.
- WRAP Cymru provides an interactive tool that maps Wales’ plastics and paper sectors, plotting business locations and helping to identify where there are clusters. View the map here.
- Capital Valley Plastics take waste products from industrial clientele and repurpose it within Wales, which is a practice becoming more and more common.
- Tools such as explainer videos can form part of carbon literacy training materials.
- Carbon training can be streamlined to fit different sectors.
- Working collaboratively with other organisations can help address challenges and find solutions, much like how CEIC runs its cohorts.
- The importance of intelligence, knowing what is where, seems to come up again and again in circularity conversations.
- We need to stop using waste as a noun. It’s a verb and we need to be consistent with this and change people’s attitudes.
- If you don’t think of things as waste, you won’t treat it as waste. It’s a circular economy resource.
We recently released our Green Business Report, following a conference in June, where businesses were invited to address the urgent question of: “How can we create a sustainable, prosperous future for Swansea’s businesses and communities?”
Waste and materials were one of the key themes at this conference and the report can be read here.
Click here to subscribe to our newsletter and select “Circular Economy” to receive updates about work from us and our partners in this space.
Please get in touch with 4theRegion to tell us about your work in South West Wales’ circular economy sector, or to share challenges and ideas about what more is needed.
by 4theManagement | Oct 11, 2022 | News, Reports
Bishopston pupils learning about honey production.
A new project, Gower Fields to Forks, is bringing together several local farms with Bishopston Comprehensive School and food distributor Castell Howell in a ground-breaking series of activities that will see food grown on local farms being delivered to the school for a nutritious meal on Friday October 21.
The project will teach the pupils about local food production, sustainability, cooking, marketing, and agriculture. They have been visiting the farms and will learn about cooking, the importance of farming, the value of local sourcing, seasonal eating, and how to market local food to other pupils at the school.
The project is being led by community interest company 4theRegion, a membership alliance working to bring about positive change in Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire. 4theRegion is working with the catering department for Swansea Council, Castell Howell, and several local farms including Western Slade Farm and Little Waterstone Farm, to deliver the project.
It is hoped that it will provide a model for local sourcing of food for schools and public services in the future.
Swansea Council’s Cabinet Member for Education and Learning Robert Smith said:
“There’s some excellent work taking place in our schools that not only promotes healthy eating but helps pupils discover where produce comes from and the importance of sustainability.
“I’m sure those taking part in Bishopston will find this rewarding and I wish them well as they continue with this project.”
Meals were served using Gower-grown produce.
Emma Oliver, farmer at Western Slade Farm said:
“As a local farmer’s wife and founder of Gower Farmers’ Market, I am delighted to see local produce going onto the plates of our next generation.
“This brilliant project will raise the profile of local food growers at a time when we are facing so many challenges.
“We are grateful for all the participants’ support in taking what will hopefully be a huge step towards carbon reduction via seasonal diets, with farming and small local businesses being given a lifeline ensuring a more sustainable future for generations to come.”
Ed Morgan, group corporate social responsibility manager at Castell Howell foods, said:
“We’re proud to be involved in this initiative, bringing vegetables grown in the Gower through our supply chain and delivering them to Bishopston school. We hope this collaboration between supply chain partners can develop and flourish and be an example of how local horticultural supply chains can evolve.”
Julie Jones, founder of project management consultancy Overbyhere Associates, which is collaborating with 4theRegion to deliver the project, said:
“We are thrilled that we have been able to play such a significant part in this project on behalf of our commissioning associates 4theRegion. They were first approached about the concept of getting local food onto local public services tables, and the idea was resoundingly welcomed. Knowing each of the participant groups, we truly appreciate how hard everyone has worked to overcome significant administrative and logistical barriers and challenges to bring what seems (on the outside) to be a fairly simple task to life. Working so closely with everyone on bringing everyone together has been a huge and incredibly rewarding pleasure”
Zoe Antrobus, Director of 4theRegion, said:
“We’re absolutely delighted to be bringing together a diverse mix of businesses and organisations including Swansea Council, local farmers, and local schools. It’s a really important project in terms of climate change and reducing the carbon footprint of food supply. It’s inspiring children and inspiring grownups around nutrition and putting good food on young children’s plates.”
Jeff Bird, head of Bishopston Comprehensive school, said:
“We’re very excited about this project, which will put local food on children’s plates while teaching them about climate change, local food production, nutrition, cooking, how to market food and more. The pupils have very much enjoyed visiting the farms and are looking forward to devising – and enjoying – a meal cooked with local food.”
