The team at the NW Net Zero Hub, which is a UK Government funded team within the Housing Delivery unit of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, welcomed students from Liverpool College to gain work experience and learn about the challenges of moving to Net Zero in the city region.
In collaboration with the Careers Hub and the Housing Team two students attended the Combined Authority office at Mann Island to work with the Net Zero Team for a week and gain insight on the work and projects that the team are involved in.
With climate action being foremost in the challenges that we face in modern society it opens opportunities for skills and jobs that are needed to combat and mitigate against the impacts of our actions on the planet. It is therefore essential that the actions taken are long-lasting and considered to make the best impact on emissions and energy use.
The NW Net Zero Hub team offers expert skills and experience to organisations across the Northwest of England to make the transition to a low carbon economy. They do this by supporting the development of projects and programmes to make the change as well as supporting funding and financing applications by partner organisations.
The student’s week involved a range of activities relating to the projects and programmes of the Net Zero Hub and Housing Delivery Team. The students engaged with the Net Zero programm and learnt about the scale of the challenge and the actions that were being promoted to enable change across the city region.
They examined the options for energy reduction in their homes, learning about improvement schemes for insulation, heating and renewable power generation. This led to an examination of the Liverpool College school site and the students undertook a solar power assessment of the property and discovered that significant carbon savings could be made using PV generation to some of the school buildings. A full strategic assessment was completed allowing them to be able to estimate the level of generation and carbon reduction that is possible with the deployment of a solar system.
Sessions with the team allowed the students to gain knowledge on careers in this field and the prospects for roles in the net zero industry. The students were able to ask about university courses and what range of prospects can be delivered from their chosen degree courses. In depth ‘ready for work’ advice was provided by Laura Austin the Hub Programme Manager which provided a great insight into preparation of applications for jobs and university.
A climate action plan overview of the city region’s ambitions was provided by Rachel Waggett, Lead Officer – Environment at the Combined Authority and Martin Land, Project Director – Tidal Power at the Combined Authority provided a very interesting insight into the Mersey Tidal Power programme. They also had a technical visit to the Merseyheat district heating network which provided an insight into the challenges of large-scale heating improvements and how different roles can support the change to low carbon heating. The week concluded with the students learning about low carbon technology projects.
Both students delivered a presentation on the week’s activities to James Johnson, Hub Programme Manager and provided feedback on the week.
Both students said of the week:
“Glad of opportunity to have work experience and thanks to Eddie for making this a simple process”
“Great to have a structure for each day”
“Work environment – learnt about how office can be a relaxed place, with enthusiastic people”
“Glad to know your first job does not set your career in stone”
“Lots of interviews lots of learning about CVs and job interviews”
Rachel Waggett, Lead Officer – Environment at Liverpool City Region Combined Authority said:
“They had some great ideas about how we could communicate better with younger audiences with our comms work on nature which I am aiming to take forward!”
The Liverpool City Region Careers Hub brings together secondary schools, special schools and colleges, with local employers and support them to provide high quality, inspirational careers support to students. For more information on the work of the Careers Hub visit the website LCR Careers Hub – Liverpool City Region Careers Hub
Eddie Boyd, Building Decarbonisation Advisor, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority
