HICSA

About the event

Plans for a cutting-edge training facility that will see Sunderland people trained to build and upgrade the city’s homes locally, using modern construction methods, low carbon, renewable energy and smart technology is set to take a step forward.

An ambitious vision to build a Housing Innovation and Construction Skills Academy (HICSA) – a ground-breaking facility that will educate, train and upskill local people to create innovative factory-built new homes, the first of which will be assembled at Riverside Sunderland.

Working in partnership, Sunderland City Council will develop plans along with Education Partnership North East (EPNE) and the Ministry of Building Innovation and Education (MOBIE), to create the new educational space, that will be located in the Sheepfolds neighbourhood of Riverside Sunderland.

The training academy and innovation hub will allow Sunderland to develop future talent, ‘supporting a city-wide housing ecology’ that will ensure local people play a leading role in constructing homes of the future. The city also believes the plans fit with the UK Government’s levelling up agenda, creating more economic opportunities for people and businesses by enabling the area to ‘build its own’.

It will also support the council’s strategy to create a carbon neutral city by 2040, training local people to deliver decarbonisation programmes for the city’s existing homes and neighbourhoods that will improve energy efficiency, reduce carbon footprint and keep residents warm throughout the winter months.