The UK needs alignment across upskilling, education and future signposting to tackle the green skills gap and meet net-zero targets, writes Nitesh Patel
In the race to reach net zero by 2050, few sectors are as crucial as construction to achieving the UK’s target. There is a long list of building projects to meet, where clients are increasingly attaching greater importance to their net-zero commitments.
Some initial insights from the forthcoming Turner & Townsend 2026 Global Construction Market Intelligence report reveal that in eight out of nine regions, the biggest constraining factor in delivering projects is the shortage of green-collar labour across much of the UK.
Closing the green skills gap requires coordinated action across three fronts: workforce upskilling, education reform, and long-term demand signalling.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) defines green collar jobs as “employment in an activity that contributes to protecting or restoring the environment, including those that mitigate or adapt to climate change”.
For the built sector, these workers are crucial to improving not only the environmental performance of the current stock of assets, but also for new construction.
The ONS estimates there were 652,100 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees in green jobs in the UK in 2024, up from 510,100 FTEs in 2015. These numbers will grow as we transition towards net zero.
Although data is not available showing how many of these workers are in construction, the sector is expected to account for a substantial proportion, such as in the energy-efficient products group and repairs.
The sector faces the dual challenge of upskilling its current workforce while attracting new talent.
According to research by Places for People, there are some challenging targets to meet. They estimate an additional 230,000 skilled workers will be needed for retrofitting by 2030, 30,000 for green energy installations, and green construction requires digital and AI skills, focusing on building information modelling, energy simulation, data analytics, and sustainability compliance.
DESNZ and industry are tackling the green skills gap through the Clean Energy Jobs Plan and the Energy Skills Passport, designed to transition workers into net-zero roles, adding 420,000 workers to the clean energy sector by 2030. Key strategies include investing in vocational training, expanding green apprenticeships, and establishing partnerships to align education with renewable sector demands.
To support this demand, new training schemes have been announced. These include the Engineering Skills Package with an investment of £100m, five Clean Energy Technical Excellence Colleges (TECs) to specialise in training skilled clean energy workers, £625m Construction Skills Package to deliver up to 60,000 additional skilled construction workers and the Growth and Skills Levy.
From an industry approach to training or upskilling, the NHS is setting a standard. The NHS Estates & Facilities apprenticeships are aligned to delivering greener hospitals with a workforce capable of sustaining them.
Programmes such as the New Hospital Programme (NHP) can stimulate local green jobs, strengthen supply chains and create long-term career pathways by embedding skills development. The focus is on building contractor and supply chain capability early, particularly with local firms, by embedding skills development at the planning and pre-construction stage. This ensures that, by the time schemes move into delivery and then operation, the skills required to operate, maintain and decarbonise the estate are already established locally.
The scale of the NHP is used to signal long-term demand for green, digital and estates skills, giving industry and individuals confidence to invest in training and career development that extends beyond a single project.
The UK’s ageing stock of housing and commercial buildings is a significant contributor to emission levels. The Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) estimates the building sector was responsible for 22% of the UK’s total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2025, up from 19% in 2015; with residential buildings accounting for 16% and commercial buildings 4% of that share.
When looking at building emissions alone, 67% is from housing, while the commercial and public sectors account for a further 27% (see figure 2 below). These three sectors are the focus of efforts to reduce future emissions.
Some 80% of the homes and buildings in 2050 will be the ones we are living and working in today, making retrofitting of existing building stock essential to meet net-zero targets. The built environment is a major source of carbon emissions, both in its production and the overall building lifecycle. In housing and commercial buildings, over 60% of the emissions are produced by heating, predominantly via fossil fuel boilers.
The UK government has unveiled a £15bn plan to retrofit up to 5 million homes by 2030 to improve energy efficiency. The target is 450,000 heat pump installations per year by 2030. This may be achievable if workers in related trades are upskilled. For commercial properties, an upward shift in the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating has been proposed from a current E to at least a C. This means landlords will need to carry out necessary structural or system upgrades in the coming years.
Without decisive action, the UK risks not just missing its net-zero targets but creating a structural bottleneck in one of its most critical sectors. The transition to a low-carbon built environment will not be constrained by ambition or capital, but by people.
Nitesh Patel is lead economist at Turner & Townsend.
