By Jake Scully, Director & Managing Consultant, Lumen Search
2022 was a significant period across the Irish market when it comes to Sustainability & the Built Environment. In a year where the profound effects of climate change became more and more apparent, the pressure on available talent with regards to ESG & Sustainability in the Irish Workforce continued to grow significantly.
This was driven on multiple fronts and will continue into the year ahead. Firstly, there is the ongoing pressure from the demands at every point in a construction project’s lifecycle from Concept stages through to Handover. Sustainability is now starting to be meaningfully prioritized by all contributors to a project at all stages, from Designers through to Contractors, which puts a strain on an already tight market. And with the continuing success of Irish Construction companies across Europe and further afield, this has further compounded the issue at a local level.
We are also seeing Energy Management come more sharply into focus due to the general optimization of property assets being further driven by the fallout from Ukraine and the price of energy, as well as companies building out ESG Departments due to the rapidly growing requirement for in-use accreditation, and another trend to watch out for will be the retrofitting of existing Portfolios in order to avoid stranded assets.
To this end, we have seen the market for Sustainability, Energy & ESG candidates become highly competitive, with significant salaries being commanded by qualified experts in their area with local experience, and for those that have upskilled or secured further Accreditations.
With the current shortage of candidates across the Domestic market with expertise in EU Taxonomy & the impending Sustainable Finance Disclosures Regulation, Portfolio Decarbonization Strategies & LCA experience, Building Physics & Energy Management, as well as the lack of people with Accreditation in LEED, BREEAM & WELL, it will only lead to continued pressure in this space for 2023.
Even with the current cautious outlook across the Economy for next year, we do not see this affecting the ESG & Sustainability space and we expect to see demand for talent in this area to continue to be robust. People with experience in the Irish market will be well-positioned, however with the shortening of the timeline for Critical Skills VISA applications being processed, we also expect to see clients pursue qualified candidates from outside the EU in order to meet the shortfall.
At a Senior level we are starting to see some of the bigger players in the Mission Critical Construction space start to distort the market, with significant salaries being offered to candidates in Senior positions with MEP backgrounds in order to secure their availability. Additionally, the competition to secure Junior candidates is becoming more and more competitive due to so many different spaces competing for graduates coming from Mechanical, Electrical, & Energy backgrounds.
Read the ESG & Sustainability Salary guide here.
Heads up from IGBC
Do you want to upskill in sustainability and build a career that makes a positive impact on the planet? Have a look at our events page and choose the training that suits your needs.
The IGBC delivers training in Sustainability, LEED, Home Performance Index, Whole Life Carbon & Life Cycle Assessment, Life Cycle Costing and Indoor Air Quality. You can also find many educational contents on our Learning Hub.
Upcoming training:
07/02/2023 | LEED GA (Green Associate) Training
25/01/2023 | Whole Life Carbon Training
07/03/2023 | Indoor Air Quality and Level(s)
14-16/03/2023 | Home Performance Index (HPI) Assessor Training
If you have any questions about our education service, please email [email protected]
About Lumen Search
Lumen Search
are a recruitment agency specializing in the Built Environment across all stages of project’s lifecycle – from Design through to in-use. Simply put, they harmonize the recruitment process between those searching for their next opportunity and those searching to hire the right people. They have expertise across multiple sectors including Sustainability, ESG, Smart Buildings, Energy, Net Zero, Embodied Carbon & Building Physics.
