Diffusing green skills in building construction trade: a key to social sustainability

Abstract

One of the sustainability triplet issues apart from the environmental and economic that requires world’s attention is the social dimension. This dimension labelled as the third tier of sustainability receives less attention by authors and countries despites its importance in ensuring that the basic needs of all people are satisfied irrespective of ethnicity, geography or gender, allow them to develop and use their intellectuality which will enable them to live healthy, fulfilling and happy lives. With regard to aforementioned, this paper technically reviewed literatures on green skills and focuses on diffusing of green skills or rather skills for sustainability into building construction sector which is identified as the sector that encompasses all the three tiers of sustainability (environmental, economic and social). Three green skills were identified appropriate for integration into the building sector with a view to give both workers and occupants safe working and living respectively. These skills include strategic and leadership skills, transversal skills and adaptability and transferability skills. Strategic and leadership skills is linked to social sustainability because it helps leaders in the building construction industries to set the right incentives and create conditions conducive to cleaner service delivery, production, cleaner transportation among others. Similarly, transversal skills that range from problem-solving to interpersonal skills are considered important because having these skills, which can be transferred from one context to another, is a good basis for accumulation of specific skills required by a given job in the building construction industries. Lastly, Adaptability and transferability skills enable workers to learn and apply the new technologies and processes required to green their jobs. These skills when fully diffused into building construction sector will serve as a panacea in achieving social sustainability.