<p>A thousand young experts on passive houses are preparing to enter the market.</p>

Students of construction and architectural fields, along with professionals from practice, have struggled for years to effectively connect their know-how, share experiences, and learn from each other. However, two years ago, a radical change came with the European project "Paths to Experience." Thanks to this project, over a thousand students gained access to manufacturing facilities, construction sites, and architectural studios. A wave of young specialists is thus entering the practice, ready to design and build according to the latest trends, that is, passive and zero-energy houses. And this is even before 2020, when it will become mandatory.

Lecturer Josef Smola during workshops

Recent graduates without any experience, prestigious companies unhappy about the lack of quality young professionals in the market. This was the state of the Czech construction industry even in spring 2012. “Every day we encountered reactions from experts who talked about how fresh graduates enter the practice unprepared. Now the entire construction industry must also face a new challenge in the form of a series of changes related to the European directive on the energy performance of buildings,” recalls Jan Bárta, director of the Passive House Center, regarding the initial intention that led to the project’s creation.

The aim of the project was to open wide the doors to the world of energy-efficient construction for young architects, designers, and technicians in construction, thus giving them a competitive advantage in the job market. In practice, this meant implementing dozens of interactive events, professional conferences, seminars, discussion forums, excursions, and internships, which were intended to strengthen the relationships between institutions of higher education and entities in the private and non-profit sectors in the field of energy-efficient building.

“The excursions were excellent! The greatest benefit for me was realizing that in Austria, a passive house is a completely normal thing and that it is perceived primarily as a quality standard. My concern that passivity fundamentally limits the architecture of the house was also disproved,” says Jiří Kacíř, a student at the Faculty of Civil Engineering at VUT Brno.

Almost two hundred students decided to undertake several weeks of intensive internships at companies that specialize in the design and construction of energy-efficient houses. Martina Hrubešová, a student of architecture in Brno, recalls her internship at the Austrian studio ah3 Architekten: “I was literally thrilled by the way my experienced colleagues at the internship approached me. They dedicated a lot of time to me and willingly and carefully taught me to work with new and useful programs. They truly considered me an equal partner.”

For practicing designers, the project was an opportunity to establish deeper collaboration with several talented young builders. “I gained an interesting overview of the quality of higher education in the field of energy-efficient education. I was able to test students in practice, teach them something. And in the end, which is personally the most valuable to me, I started to develop cooperation with several truly skilled students beyond the project. In that, I see the main benefit of the entire event – that it managed to meaningfully connect the academic sphere with professionals from practice,” says experienced designer Michal Hučík.

The project Paths to Experience is now ending in July after two years of duration. Three universities in Brno and Ostrava, one higher vocational school in Volyně, and dozens of leading experts in the field of low-energy buildings participated in it. The project has become a living proof that well-invested money from the European Union can help hundreds or thousands of young people experience the world of energy-efficient living up close.