PROF / TRAC

PROF / TRAC targets technical experts, architects and managers involved in nZEB design and construction. The developed European training and qualification scheme will be part of a life-long-life learning process for continuous development and up-skilling of professionals.

Nearly Zero Energy Building construction and renovation requires a large contribution from the building sector and is a challenge for the construction industry. A successful design and construction process towards nZEB construction and renovation requires innovative design processes and technologies based on an integrated design approach and multi-disciplinary work teams. However this approach is not yet common as the building sector still works in a fragmented process. Especially the collaboration between architects, technical experts and managers is necessary to develop mutual understanding of each other’s disciplines and combine skills to achieve optimal nZEB construction and retrofitting in terms of quality, energy efficiency and cost effectiveness.

Major barriers of the transformation:

-Many professionals in the buildings sector have limited knowledge and skills in energy efficient building design and nZEB principles.
-Lack of collaboration between the different disciplines and professionals. Most of the available trainings focus on one specific target group and on one technique or concept.
-Lack of harmonised certification and qualification schemes with mainstreamed training materials for building professionals on nZEB. Lack of skills-mapping and qualifications for the specific subject and target groups.
-Training materials for education and post-initial education are created on an ad-hoc basis without consensus on an underlying qualification framework. Training materials for education and post-initial education should be coordinated and updated for a life- long- learning process.

PROF-TRAC offers a solution to overcome these barriers by developing an Open Training Platform and Qualification scheme for Continuing Professional Development for professionals in the building sector. This platform targets technical experts, architects and managers involved in nZEB design and construction. The developed European qualification scheme will be part of a life- long-life learning process for continuous development and up-skilling of professionals.

PROF/TRAC project closed!

PROF/TRAC ended last month a successful 3-years project, with many achievements to be proud of. The project outcomes were presented in a successful event in Brussels on 20 February, engaging many stakeholders in interesting discussions.

Find here the PROF/TRAC 6th and last newsletter featuring the final project outcomes and future development of the PROF/TRAC Platform and Qualification Scheme.

PROF/TRAC final event in Brussels 

PROF/TRAC project is coming to an end in February, with its final meeting organised in Brussels on 19 February by Housing Europe. On the 20th PROF/TRAC consortium will also have its final event jointly with the Housing Europe Conference on European Multi-level Skills offensive.

PROF/TRAC is getting ready for its life after the project lifetime. The consortium has opened in December the Training Material Repository, dedicated to any expert/organisation/project consortium willing to share their training materials about nZEBs with the wide PROF/TRAC community (upload yours here!). The PROF/TRAC Certified Trainers are also increasing: sixteen experts have joined the network after attending the TtT4. Read more about these and other recent achievements in the 5th PROF/TRAC Newsletter.

Last PROF/TRAC Newsletter

In coincidence with the Project's end, the sixth and last PROF/TRAC newsletter is available to provide an overall vision of the Project's achievements and the perspective for their future developments. You can find here the Newsletter.

New trainers have joined the PROF/TRAC platform

After having attended and successfully completed the TtT4 Webinar course, sixteen new Trainers have joined the PROF/TRAC network as Training Providers. Congratulations and welcome! Have a look to the concerning PROF/TRAC News.

Share your training material on nZEBs with the PROF/TRAC community

PROF/TRAC consortium has recently opened its Training Material Repository to any expert/organization/project consortium willing to share their training materials about nZEBs with the wide PROF/TRAC community. Upload yours here!
The PROF/TRAC repository already offers the whole IDES-EDU educational package and a number of presentations, reports, guidelines, etc. collected from relevant European projects and studies. By widening the offer of nZEB-related training materials, PROF/TRAC repository will further strengthen its position as a reference point for professionals willing to bridge the skills gap in nZEB construction.

PROF/TRAC Training organized in Slovakia

PROF/TRAC Train the Trainers course has been replicated in Slovakia, where certified PROF/TRAC Trainers have organized the pne-day training course  "PROF / TRAC – Nearly zero energy houses", aiming to train engineers, building managers and members of municipality bodies about the different aspects of nearly zero energy buildings. The training had an interdisciplinary approach, as it was provided by engineers specialized in different aspects of energy performance of buildings (energy audit and certification of buildings, buildings physics, technical systems of buildings, indoor environment of buildings); teaching methods were diversified as well, as lectures, worksops and discussions structured the course.
The participants received an official PROF/TRAC course attendance certification. 

Join the BUILD UP WEBINAR by PROF/TRAC

PROF/TRAC is organising a webinar on BUILD UP on the 21st of November. You can find all the necessary information HERE.

Registrations are open for the first PROF/TRAC Train-the-Trainers webinar course

The PROF/TRAC Train-the-Trainers course starts from 9 October, 14:00 CET. It is designed for trainers from training organizations in construction industry. During 8 sessions, you will be guided towards new insights and teaching techniques for professional education in the field of nZEBs.
If you are a trainer with an interdisciplinary background covering engineering, architecture and building management, come and join the PROF/TRAC TtT4 webinar course!
Register here for the webinar course and check here the detailed schedule.

REHVA and EPB Center at EUSEW 2017

During EUSEW 2017, is the annual event and place to be for everybody working on sustainability, REHVA and the newly established EPB Center set up their booths side by side in the Networking Village on 21 June. REHVA dedicated its booth to “Innovative tools, advanced technologies, and new skills for nZEB and beyond”. Amongst the proposed activities, also the presentation of PROF/TRAC project to the visitors.  Check here some pictures of the booth.

PROF/TRAC Trainer-the-Trainers free webinar course starts in October 

On 9 October at 14:00 CET the PROF/TRAC consortium will held the 1st of 8 online lessons of the Train-the-Trainers (TtT) free webinar series. It constitutes the 4th round of TtT courses organised within the PROF/TRAC project, which aims at a life-long learning process for up-skilling of professionals of the construction sector. Check out the latest project news in the PROF/TRAC newsletter.

The webinar is designed for trainers from training organisations of lifelong learning courses for building professionals and it will focus on continuing education in the field of nZEBs. The objective is to give a competitive advantage to the participants, by providing them with new insights and teaching techniques. Register here for the course.

PROF / TRAC Train-to-Trainers course in Spain - The successful interdisciplinary cooperation continues, Valencia, 25-26 January 2017

ROF/TRAC organised the third Train-to-Trainer (TtT) course in Valencia on the 25th and 26th of January 2017. Eight REHVA members from ATIC (Belgium) and SSTP (Slovakia) joined the scheme along REHVA members from AiCARR (Italy), AIIR (Romania), ETE (Hungary) and FINVAC (Finland) who greatly contributed to the second TtT in Zagreb. The workshop put together different building professionals (e.g. engineers and architects) from REHVA, ACE and Housing Europe into teams to develop the structure of training course tailored to specific needs of their country. The participants who attended the previous courses are already acting as front-runners and ambassadors, initiating and organising the national training programmes for NZEB trainers who are able to create a “snowball effect”.

More information

4 new REHVA members  completed the PROF / TRAC Train-to-Trainers course, 19-21 September 2016, Zagreb, Croatia

PROF/TRAC organised its successful 2nd Train-the-Trainers (TtT) course from the 19th to the 21st of September 2016.  Four additional REHVA Members Associations (AiCARR, AIIR, ETE, FINVAC) attended the course and joined the four associations (ATECYR, DANVAK, HKIS, TVVL) already involved in PROF/TRAC scheme.

During a workshop, the trainers started to develop national courses to take place over the course of next year. The next TtT course will take place in January 2017 in Valencia with further REHVA Members Association invited to join.

Find out more about the PROF/TRAC project: www.proftrac.eu.

PROF / TRAC Train-to-Trainers course in Zagreb - A successful interdisciplinary cooperation, Zagreb, 19-21 September 2016

PROF/TRAC organised the second Train-to-Trainer (TtT) course in Zagreb from the 19th to the 21st of September which benefited of the participation of REHVA members from AiCARR (Italy), AIIR (Romania), ETE (Hungary) and FINVAC (Finland).

The workshop put together engineers (from REHVA) and architects (from ACE) into teams to develop the structure of training course tailored to specific needs of their country. The course participants will act as front-runners and ambassadors, initiate and organise the national training programmes for NZEB trainers who are able to create a “snowball effect”. More information. 

PROF / TRAC WORKSHOP – Open Training Platform and Qualification Scheme for NZEB - CLIMA 2016 Aaalborg, 23 May 2016

Nearly Zero Energy Buildings require integrated design approach and multi-disciplinary work. PROF/TRAC workshop presented the Open Training Platform and Qualification Scheme for continuous professional development in nZEB design and construction which aims also to improve the collaboration between architects, technical experts and managers.

Experiences from previous training sessions within the project were shared and participants have requestedand received information on how to join the next training session in Zagreb from the 19th to the 21st of September.

The workshop presentations can be downloaded here.

SAVE THE DATE - PROF / TRAC workshop @CLIMA2016, Monday, 23 May 2016, Aalborg

Several REHVA Member Associations have expressed interest in being involved in the scheme and in attending the "Train the Trainers" sessions. The workshop will be an opportunity to present the first achievements, to exchange about the experiences of the 4 project partner REHVA Members (ATECYR, DANVAC, HKIS, TVVL) and to discuss about the involvement of other REHVA Members in the PROF/TRAC Training and Qualification Platform.

Read the description of the event

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement 649473