• Development of a set of skills assessment and learning materials to help sustainable community professionals improve their generic skills and knowledge.
• Identify the extent and nature of generic skills and knowledge gaps.
• Outline methods in which resources might be extended to a wider group of organisations, communities and individuals.

The project will investigate and develop a set of skills assessment and learning materials to help people working in built environment and community-related professions improve their generic skills and knowledge, and enable them to work together effectively to build better places.

It targets practitioners in local government in the east of England, which is experiencing a range of sustainability issues, from high levels of growth to profoundly rural areas presenting different challenges.

The research will identify the extent and nature of the generic skills and knowledge gaps amongst this target group today, how they interact to share knowledge and skills across professions, what learning resources and materials they would find most useful, and how they can track their progress. It will also outline ways in which these resources might be extended to a wider group of organisations, communities and individuals.

There are three main stages, linked so that participants contribute to the development and validation of the project outcomes:

1. Local government staff in relevant occupations, identified via publicly available sources and invitations circulated to regional professional organisations, will be asked to take part in an e-survey and focus groups.
2. The information gathered will be used to design an online self-assessment toolkit which will help practitioners to identify gaps in their generic skills, knowledge, and understanding of the contributions of different professions to delivering sustainable communities. Linked to this will be a set of learning materials, covering such generic skills as leadership, communication, project management, and partnership working.
3. Focus group participants will be invited to help test the assessment and learning materials, and to provide feedback for the third stage of the project. This will concentrate on transforming the pilot system into a prototype for launch to the wider local government community.

The main project outcome will be the prototype self-assessment toolkit and learning materials, enabling different professional groups to work effectively and collaboratively to deliver sustainable communities.

Representatives of the many public bodies in the east of England and related organisations will be invited to an end-of-project launch event at Anglia Ruskin University supported by Inspire East (the regional centre of excellence for sustainable communities in the east of England).

Project outputs will be disseminated within the academic community through conference presentations and papers in leading academic journals.

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