by Brianna Crandall — June 10, 2016 — In order to meet growing demand for skilled workers in the green building field, the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) and the Urban Green Council (the New York Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council) recently announced a strategic partnership to bring Green Professional Building Skills Training (GPRO) to contractors, tradespeople and building operators across Canada.
Geared to trade professionals, Green Professional Building Skills Training (GPRO) consists of a series of courses and certificate exams developed by the Urban Green Council that aim to close the gap between conventional and sustainable construction practices. GPRO courses are taught to impart the principles of sustainability by way of trade-specific knowledge. Since the program launched in 2011, over 8,000 people have received GPRO training across the United States and Canada.
Canada is a global leader in green building, with the highest number of LEED buildings per capita in the world, according to CaGBC. A recent CaGBC report titled Green Building in Canada: Assessing the Market Impacts and Opportunities further confirmed this, projecting that LEED projects (those that have certified between 2005 and end of 2015) will generate approximately $62.3 billion in total gross domestic product (GDP) and create over 701,000 direct jobs over their lifetime.
Builders and operators are already using GPRO-certified trained professionals to bring LEED into their projects across the United States and in the Greater Toronto Area, and this international partnership means the program will be available coast to coast throughout all of North America. Offering GPRO training nationally means bringing a much-needed set of green skills training to Canada’s construction industry, and in turn supporting Canada’s economic and societal push toward actionable solutions to climate change.
The Toronto Chapter of the CaGBC has been offering GPRO education in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) since 2015. The CaGBC is currently preparing course material and will roll out the first round of national training in the fall of 2016. Certified trained professionals will earn AIA and GBCI credits while completing the training. For more information on GPRO and CaGBC Education’s additional offerings, visit the CaGBC Web site.
