KIVAKIRA

Project info

Project	KIVAKIRA – Circular Economy Driving Low-Carbon and Sustainable Real Estate and Construction Industry
Duration	1.1.2025 – 30.6.2027
Partners	Häme University of Applied Sciences, LAB University of Applied Sciences
Funder	Häme ELY centre, (ESF+)
Budget	283 158 €

In KIVAKIRA project, we pilot continuing education training on circular economy topics together with the LAB University of Applied Sciences. This will strengthen the skills of real estate and construction personnel in the field of low carbon and circular economy.

The construction sector employs around half a million people in Finland. With the tightening requirements of the Construction Act, many companies are now looking for concrete ways to strengthen the low-carbon and circular economy in their business. However, the availability of circular economy skills is not very widespread, and training provision is still rather limited in the fields of real estate and building and community engineering.

In KIVAKIRA – Circular Economy Driving Low-Carbon and Sustainable Real Estate and Construction Industry project we will identify skills needs related to low-carbon and circular economy in real estate and construction (KIRA) companies in the Kanta and Päijät-Häme regions. Based on the needs, we design and pilot suitable continuing education training together with LAB University of Applied Sciences. We respond to the employment challenges in the sector by promoting the upgrading of personnel skills.

Companies will be involved right from the start, to ensure that there is a match between skills needs, employment seeking people and the training provided by the project. The objectives of the training, the way it is implemented and the assessment of skills are planned in cooperation with the business community so that the training can genuinely support job creation in companies.

Target group

The key target groups of the project include construction experts and designers, contractors and inspectors, and building maintenance and management professionals.

The target group for the training to be piloted in the project includes people who have completed technical training and want to update their knowledge on circular economy topics, as well as people working in sectors such as construction or unemployed jobseekers who want to broaden their skills.

Area of activity

Primary areas of activity in this project are Kanta- ja Päijät-Häme.

Measures to be implemented in the project

We identify the current and near future skills needs in KIRA companies in relation to low-carbon and circular economy skills of their employees.

We will identify different technological solutions that can be utilised in low-carbon construction and circular economy, and then assess their usefulness for education.

We will plan out the content, structure, teaching methods, delivery methods, assessment methods and digital learning environment of the in-service training, utilising the results of previous work packages.

We pilot the training in cooperation with our stakeholders, and will develop the training based on the feedback we receive.

We plan further implementation of the training. This way we can ensure the continuity, development and suitability of continuing training for different levels of education. We will disseminate the training widely to professional organisations and stakeholders and make the training materials produced in the project publicly available.

We ensure that the project proceeds efficiently and according to plan, and that we communicate openly and effectively.