With solutions evolving at pace and a fractured training market, the skills landscape can be difficult for developers to navigate. Giles Bradford of Bradfords discusses the importance of collaboration and merchant engagement.
Developers are facing increasing pressure across the board, from workforce shortages, regulatory change and evident and growing gap between housing targets and the realities on the ground. Underpinning these is also the need to rapidly adapt to net-zero solutions as mandated by Government.
The Government is fortunately recognising the need for significant upskilling of the construction workforce to support their goals, evidenced by commitments to construction training and technical colleges in the Spring Budget and recent Industrial Strategy focus. While welcomed, these announcements remain long-term and are not likely to deliver the solutions developers and the wider supply chain need in the here and now.
Amid this complexity, what do developers need to know? What opportunities for collaboration might be being missed, as each actor in the supply chain seeks their own solutions to skills challenges? How should a developers collaborate more closely with merchants to meet their needs while supporting wider upskilling?
Today’s green skills landscape
The urgent need for the installer workforce to upskill in renewables and retrofit is widely understood, and solutions have proliferated in recent years. This has created fragmentation, with no single pipeline feeding skilled workers into the necessary trades. Instead, there’s a patchwork of accredited qualifications, short bootcamps, manufacturer training, and traditional apprenticeships. Each route is valid, but depth and consistency vary, as does how directly they support site-ready skills.
The Green Skills Advisory Panel (GSAP) is a key partnership dedicated to addressing this fragmentation and supporting the supply chain to understand and fill gaps. GSAP has expanded from its beginnings within Exeter College to become a national and international committee, bringing together over 500 businesses to develop sustainable training and education for the industry, from merchants such as Bradfords to developers and SME installers.
According to GSAP, the strongest uptake has been in adult re-skilling and bootcamps. This is positive as it demonstrates appetite amongst existing professionals to upskill through modular, stackable training. However, it does leave a gap in futureproofing the sector’s long-term workforce. Developers should be aware that while short courses can meet urgent project needs, deeper, accredited training (like MCS-ready qualifications) is essential to building competence, reliability, and trust.
The importance of collaboration
Increasing confidence in the training which does exist requires more collaboration between developers, merchants and suppliers working together, and onwards to the training providers. Merchants are a vital, and often underused, bridge between product innovations and the tradespeople who install them.
At Bradfords, we work with Daikin to deliver LCL-accredited courses through our Sustainable Homes Centre in Honiton, with over 100 customers already trained via a Level 1 Heat Pump Installer course. Putting our staff through the same training programme is also key, ensuring the colleagues who interact with installers and developers daily can provide the right advice. And the training enables stronger links with suppliers, which means staff are more proactive and able to identify and source the right solutions for customers.
Heat pump installation is an area where the ability to understand a package of solutions and how different building materials align – or don’t – is essential. By collaborating with merchants, and installers who have benefited from direct supplier training, developers can have increased confidence in the on-site delivery of these more novel solutions.
What developers need to know
Developers who engage early with merchants to discuss skills gaps and design requirements – not just to source products – will be in a better place to ensure the right installer support is in place for each project. Merchants are not merely passive suppliers. We’re connectors and enablers of capability, as well as hubs of knowledge in our own right.
This practical, grounded expertise is crucial for housebuilders who are managing multiple projects and subcontractors and need to know that training is not only accredited, but also up-to-date and product specific. Developers can encourage subcontractors to discuss their projects with merchants and attend training sessions and regular product demonstrations. In return, merchants can help installers to navigate the complex training landscape and make their businesses more attractive to housebuilders.
According to Luke Moss, GSAP Project Manager and National Board Member: “The message to developers is simple: you are central to the solution. The future of your business depends on a workforce that is equipped for low-carbon construction, circular design, and environmental compliance. By investing time, sharing insight, and opening up opportunities, even small developers can play a vital role in building the net-zero workforce we all need. As a skills sector, we are primed and ready to close the skills gap throughout the UK through our network of training providers.”
As a merchant, I echo this and encourage developers to engage with their builders’ merchants around training. By working together in this way, merchants, developers, suppliers and training providers not only improve delivery standards but also contribute to the wider green transition and net zero goals.