National Actions of Italy

Roadmap – Italy

National actions of Italy

June 2016 / Format V1.1 / MH, IV, JC

Summary

In this report you will find our national roadmap of Italythat is created within the PROF/TRAC project. The roadmap focusses on successful national implementation of nZEB trainings for professionals, linked to the - to be developed - PROF/TRAC EU nZEB qualification scheme.

List of abbreviations and definitions

Abbreviation / Meaning
Ad / Associate degree
Ba / Bachelor
CPD / Continuing Professional development
ECTS / the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System
EHEA / Qualifications Framework of the European Higher Education Area
EQF / European qualification format
EQF-IP / EQF intake level for the educational or training program
EQF-OP / EQF output level for the educational or training program
IN / Initial education
Ma / Master
PhD / Doctor of philosophy / Doctorate
PI / Post initial education
nZEB / Nearly Zero Energy Building
Term / Meaning
Accreditation / Accreditation is a quality assurance process under which services and operations of (educational) institutions or programs are evaluated by an external body to determine if applicable standards are met. If standards are met, accredited status is granted by the appropriate agency. (Wikipedia)
Degree
Initial education / Training people receive before entering the labour market.
In general, initial education is based on qualification documents and corresponding professional competency profiles. These qualification documents are drawn up nationally by the knowledge centres of the various professional sectors. Completing initial education results in the earning of a certain EQF level and a diploma, which has an unlimited validity.
Post-initial training / Training people receive after leaving initial training.
In general, professional post-initial training is based on demand from market parties for retraining.
These (short) trainings results most times in a certificate, which offers a limited validity. They do not result in the earning of a certain EQF level.
Profession / A profession is a specialized occupation characterized by intensive training and education.
Qualification
Qualification document
Trias Energetica / A concept that is based on 3 steps:
First, we need to limit energy demand through energy saving. Second, renewable sources should be used to meet the remaining energy demand. Only then should fossil fuels be used, as efficiently and cleanly as possible.

Contents

Summary

List of abbreviations and definitions

1Introduction

1.1Guidance of this report

2Demands for skilled professionals – results skills mapping

2.1Skills mapping Methodology

2.1.1Definition of the current professions

2.1.2Education levels

2.1.3NZEB-building and installation technologies

2.1.4Definition of required interdisciplinary skills

2.1.5Definition of Skills levels used

2.2Current professions in Italy

2.3New skills and specialisms in Italy

2.3.1Integrated picture

2.3.2Conclusions and recommendations

3Opportunities and barriers in Italy

3.1Expected development of the National market for nZEB

3.2Education system

3.3Drivers in the market

3.4Drivers in education

3.5Barriers in the market

3.6Barriers in education

3.7Recommendations on dissolving the barriers

4Roadmap plan

4.1Action clusters and points

4.2Explanation of roadmap Action points

5Conclusions

Authors

1Introduction

Nearly Zero Energy Building (nZEB) construction and renovation expects a large contribution from the building

sector and is a challenge for the construction industry, using innovative design processes and technologies. Moreover, a successful design and construction process towards energy efficient buildings and renovation requires to follow an integrated design approach and to work in multi-disciplinary teams.Especially, collaboration between architects, technicalexperts and managers is necessary, to gain a mutual understanding of each other’s disciplines and combineskills to achieve optimal nZEB construction and retrofitting, both in terms of energy efficiency and costeffectiveness.This requires for each professional involved a good basicunderstanding of the several disciplines that are needed.

For this transformation there are still some major barriers to overcome:

1. There is a common mismatch between the present available and needed skills as well as managerialcapacity of professionals due to a lack in specific training and education. Many professionals in the building sector have only limited training and skills in energy efficient building design and nZEBprinciples.
2. Collaboration between the different disciplines and building professionals is still not very common.
3. The involved building professionals are lacking the right information on available qualifications and training materials.
4. There are no mappings and qualifications available of the needed skills for the specific target groups.
5. Most of the trainings available focus on one specific target group and on one technique or concept.
6. Training materials for education and post-initial education are now created on an ad-hoc basis without consensus on an underlying qualification framework. As a result there are a lot of unqualified basictraining materials available, but most of this material is fragmented, difficult to find and expert orspecialist trainings are also necessary.
7. Training materials for education and post-initial education are available but should also be maintainedand updated in order to make the training sustainable and suitable for a life- long- learning process.

PROF-TRAC offers a solution to overcome these barriers by developing and maintaining an Open Education Platformfor Continuing Professional Development for professionals in the building sector. This platform addressestechnical experts, architects and managers. On the other hand a European qualification scheme will be developed as part of a life- long-life learning process for continuing development and up-skilling of professionals. This European qualification scheme will be part of alife- long-life learning process for continuing development and up-skilling of professionals.

1.1Guidance of this report

In this report you will find a national roadmap of Italythat is created within the PROF/TRAC project. The roadmap is the last step and result of the Skills-mapping performed in WP2 of PROF/TRAC. It is an important building brick for realisation and successful implementation of both the Open Education Platform as the European qualification scheme.
The skills mapping consists of:

1. A mapping and comparison of the required nZEB skills versus present nZEB skills ofprofessions involved in nZEB construction and retrofitting. You will find this in Chapter 2 together with a short description of the methodology.
2. An inventory of existing qualifications, knowledge sources, education programmes, post-initial training supply and accreditation/ certification structures.
3. A roadmap report with the results of the above mentioned activities focussing on addressing the found gaps, opportunities and barriers. You will find this in Chapter 4.

2Demands for skilled professionals – results skills mapping

To determine the future demands/needs for skilled professionals a so called Skills Mapping is executed in each in PROF/TRAC participating member state. In other words, the mapping of professions and professionals involved in nZEB construction and retrofitting, the present skills and skills needed. This includes the mapping of existing qualifications, knowledge sources, education programmes, post-initial training supply and accreditation and certification structures. A common methodology is devised, based on the BUILDUP-skills experiences, which will be applicable on national scale and is applied in the pilot countries, of which the results of Italyare given in this chapter.

2.1Skills mapping Methodology

A short description is given of the skills mapping methodology. This methodology contains the following actions:

1. Creating an inventory of involved professions (2.1.1), number of professionals (2.2) and their education levels (0);
2. Creating an inventory of existing qualifications;
3. Creating an inventory of available education programmes;
4. Creating an inventory of post-initial trainings;
5. Creating an inventory of accreditation and certification structures;
6. Creating an inventory of applied nZEB-building and installation technologies (2.1.3);
7. Creating an overview of required interdisciplinary skills (2.1.4);
8. Mapping the applied building and installation technologies with the involved professions and their EQF-levels;
9. Mapping the required interdisciplinary skills with the involved professions and their EQF-levels (2.1.5).

These results of these steps are inventories in the excel file “PROF-TRAC-Inventory_skills_mapping_TEMPLATE v4.0.xls” and the accompanying instruction “PROF-TRAC methodology_skills_mapping_V7_INSTRUCTION GUIDE.docx”

2.1.1Definition of the current professions

For Italy the following "group names" of current professions are being addressed, see table 2.1.These are the names which are being used in practice. For each MS there can be different national (names of) professions, therefore there is not one common EU definition possible.

Table 2.1 Definition of professions in Prof/Trac, specified for Italy

Profession / Definition of the professions
Architect / Architects investigate, design and oversee the implementation of buildings and urban spaces taking into account functional, architectural, aesthetic, structural, technical, regulatory, cost and contextual requirements with due regard to public health and safety. Architects’ work takes account of social factors and obligations and addresses the relationship between people and buildings and buildings and the environment (definition ESCO).
Junior architect / activities based on the application of the discipline, aimed at the concourse and the cooperation at the activities related to the design, construction supervision, project valuation and building works testing, including public works sector:
the design activity, the construction supervision, as well as surveillance, measurement, accounting, and the settlement regarding the dwelling sector, with the employment of standardized methodologies;
the direct and instrumental measurement applied on the current and historic constructions.
architect / activities based on the application of the discipline, related to the design, construction supervision, project valuation and building works testing, including public works sector:
the design activity, the construction supervision, as well as surveillance, measurement, accounting, and the settlement regarding the dwelling sector, with the employment of every type of methodologies;
the direct and instrumental measurement applied on the current and historic constructions.
Engineer / The designer of materials, structures and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality, regulation, safety, and cost
Civil and Environmental Engineering / Engineer of the building design, drawings, materialisation, thermal performance, acoustics, building physics
Civil Engineer / Engineer of the building design, drawings, materialisation, thermal performance, acoustics, building physics
Environment and Territory Engineer
Information Egineer
Industrial Engineer
Electrical Engineer / Engineer of electrical installations (power) and lighting systems.
Electronical Engineer / Engineer of building automation, system engineer / system integrator
Energy Enginner
Management Engineer / Engineer of the building design, drawings, materialisation, thermal performance, acoustics, building physics
Project manager / The person responsible for the planning, execution and closing of any (nZEB) building project
Project developer / The project developer takes response for the associated risks involved in the building process for the customer and hands over the project to the tenant / buyer after completion and use of the building
Manager of the building process / The person responsible for quality assurance during on-site construction works in the realization of nZEB buildings
Building owner / facility manager / The person responsible to maintain the real estate as it was realized at the end of the nZEB building process (including facility management)
Financial manager / The person responsible for all finances involved during planning, execution and closing of any (nZEB) building project
Procurer / The person responsible for facilitating the process of nZEB tenders and (sub)contracts

2.1.2Education levels

In line with EHEA and ECTS the following degrees are relevant in the scope of the defined professions within PROF/TRAC:

Table 2.2 Educational levels

Degree / EQF-OP / EHEA / ECTS*
Ass. Degree
(different names are used) / 5 / short cycle (sometimes within the 1st cycle) / 120 ECTS credits
Ba (Bachelor) / 6 / 1st cycle / 180–240 ECTS credits
Ma (Master) / 7 / 2nd cycle / 90–120 ECTS credits (a minimum of 60 on 2nd-cycle level)
PhD (Doctor) / 8 / 3rd cycle / No ECTS range given
*1 ECT corresponds with 25-30 hours of work. One academic year corresponds to 60 ECTS-credits that are equivalent to 1,500–1,800 hours of study.

2.1.3NZEB-building and installation technologies

A list of relevant building and installation technologies has been composed in discussion with the PROF/TRAC consortium partners. The following technologies are mapped in the skills mapping:

Table 2.3 NZEB building and installation technologies

CODE / TECHNOLOGY, INTERDISCIPLINARY SKILLS AND PROFESSIONS
M / ENERGY MANAGEMENT
EM1 / Smart grid systems
EM2 / Domotic systems
EM3 / Building management systems
P / ENERGY PRODUCTION (on-site and nearby renewable energy production and off-site renewable energy)
EP1 / Geothermal energy
EP2 / Biomass
EP3 / Biogass
EP4 / District heating and cooling
EP5 / Heatpumps
EP6 / Solar power systems for electricity generation
EP7 / Solar thermal systems for cooling generation
EP8 / Solar thermal systems for domestic hot water and/or heating generation)
EP9 / Mini wind power
EP10 / Combined Heat and Power (CHP)
R / ENERGY REDUCTION
ER1 / Insulation
ER2 / Air tightness building
ER3 / Micro climates
ER4 / Envelope systems
ER5 / Hot water systems
ER6 / Window and/or glazing systems
ER7 / Heating and cooling emission systems
ER8 / Electric heating systems
ER9 / Artificial lighting systems
ER10 / Ventilation systems

2.1.4Definition of required interdisciplinary skills

Interdisciplinary skills in PROF-TRAC focus on the direct relations and interaction points between the different disciplines in the building sector. This list has been composed by the PROF/TRAC consortium partners. It is based on results of the Dutch BUILDUP-Skills project BUS_N@W.

Table 2.4 Definition of interdisciplinary skills

Interdisciplinary skills / Skills definition
Communication / Being able to listenand summarize conversations (in common language)Realizing common understanding an Involving other people in the project objectives.
Information management / Understanding technical drawings (2D/3D) and texts. Being able to interpret information (also in BIM-models).
Understanding of the complete NZEB building process.
Collaboration
(teamwork & facilitation) / Working together in cross-trade settings, In other words, with allinvolved NZEB building disciplines.
Being a valid supporter of NZEB building projects)
Quality assurance / Taking responsibility, in order to guarantee the quality of his/her own work.
Being aware of the consequences of his actions on the energy performance of the NZEB building and the building process.
Able to implement and assess self-inspection methodologies.
Skills on commissioning and maintenance.
Sustainable architectural design / Being able to design with all partners a NZEB building with comfort and sustainability as starting point.
Having a clear view on energetic consequences with every choice made in the design process.
Integrated design / Can design integrally with the other involved NZEB building disciplines
Sustainable building materials / Being able to asses building materials on sustainability and make the right selections in the design
Sustainable installation materials / Being able to asses installation materials on sustainability and make the right selections in the design.
Environmental (indoor) quality / Having a clear view on indoorenvironmental consequences with every choice made in the design process.
Economics / Having a clear view of issues on finance, costing, LCC analysis during the NzEB building process
Procurement / Being able to facilitate the process of NzEB tenders and (sub)contracts

2.1.5Definition of Skills levels used

The current and needed skill levels on NZEBare mapped in a matrix, using the following definition of levels 0 - 5.

Table 2.5 Definition of skills levels 0 to 5

Level: / Explanation of the skills levels / Examples
0 / Not applicable / no knowledge and skills required
1 / Has little knowledge and skills with respect to the relevant field / technology (mostly outside the own field of expertise).
Is able to communicate in generalterms about a specific technology with project partners.
Has knowledge of definitions and is aware of common applications in the field. / Knowledge of an architect on heat pumps in general terms, knowing the influence of parameters (such as temperatures and heat source).
Knowledge of a mechanical engineer on thermal bridges and air tightness (its’ definition, parameters).
2 / Understands basic knowledge and has practical skills within the field / technology, is able to solve simple problems by selecting and applying basic methods, tools, materials and information (mostly outside the own field of expertise).
Is able to make estimating or simple calculations and designs by given instructions or common methods.
Is able to read and understand technical drawings.
Is able to discuss with other professionals on a more detailed level. / Architects’ ability to estimate the needed of m2 of PV-panels, based on total needed kWh/a.
Mech. Engineers’ ability to understand influence of air tightness on energy use and heat loss.
3 / Has comprehensive, factual and theoretical knowledge and skills within the field / technology, is capable of solving problems within the field.
Is able to make detailed calculations and designs (drawings), can oversee the consequences of choices and parameters within the field.
Is aware of the influence of choices made on the work of other professionals. / Engineers’s ability to make a calculation and optimising the design within the own field of expertise (e.g. heat loss calculation).
Is able to choose the right materials and products according to their specifications.
4 / Has advanced knowledge involving a critical understanding of theories and principles and skills, required to solve complex and unpredictable problems in the field and is aware of the boundaries.
Is able to make and lead complex designs in the field of expertise, and integrate them with other disciplines.
Is aware of the influence of choices in the design on the energy use of the building.
Uses “best practices”. / Can combine different technologies such as envelope systems, heat pumps, insulation, in order to design and calculate a complete energy consumption of the building.
Is able to choose sustainable materials in relation to NZEB.
5 / Has specialized knowledge and problem-solving skills, on one hand at the forefront of knowledge in the field, in order to develop new knowledge and procedures and the other hand to integrate knowledge from different fields.
According level 4, plus:
Is able to optimize and try out application of new, not common, technologies and innovations.
Designs / invents new “best practices”. / Is leading in the field of expertise.
Makes use of CFD calculations if needed.

2.2Current professions in Italy

Available numbers of educated or registered professionals within the scope of PROF/TRAC, have been inventoried during the skills mapping, in order to be able to compare the number of available and skilled professionals with the needed number of professionals.