2025: Strengthening the Built Environment Workforce: A Year in Review

In the past year, the BE+ Education program has supported workforce development in Massachusetts by securing more than $250,000 worth of funding for organizations to use towards free and deeply discounted BE+ courses. With 1,100 total professionals trained across 292 organizations, BE+ provided over 400 AIA continuing education credits to support our community with their career development and upskilling.

As a result, one company reported a 30% increase of in-house energy and daylight modeling and sustainable material assessments and another reported 50% more energy modelers on staff. Strong repeat engagement remained a hallmark of the program, with over 20% of participants returning for multiple courses and companies averaging three trainings each.

With our roster of 40+ expert instructors and 12 new partnerships added this year alone, we are well-positioned to help practitioners meet the industry’s evolving standards.

Get Fast Access to Grant-Funded Training: Choose a BE+ course, Gather Application Materials, Apply for Funding, Receive up to 100% Reimbursement. Questions? Reach out to @education@builtenvironmentplus.org

BE+ as a Workforce Funding Pathway for Upskilling

Through the Workforce Training Fund Program, we supported low-cost advanced credentialing, with 21 new LEED accredited trainees and 45 professionals earning Passive House accreditation. Together, these outcomes reflect BE+’s continued commitment to workforce development as a critical lever for climate action and industry transformation.

Learn about Workforce Funding Grants here for BE+ and partner courses.
Explore funding opportunities to become a Phius Certified Professional, explore WUFI and THERM. Check out our Phius Registration Roadmap to determine how & when to apply for funding grants!

Collage of promotional graphics of BE+ course offerings

Quality and relevance remained central to our approach. Courses earned an average satisfaction rating of 90%, reinforcing the program’s reputation for excellence. Top-performing offerings—including LEED v5: An Early Look, Massachusetts energy code trainings, Phius Certified Passive House Consultant trainings and our new Tech to Transformation: Building Better webinar series—reflect growing demand for technical rigor to meet evolving building standards.

In partnership with the DOER and the sponsors of Mass Save, BE+ subsidized over 250 seats in 2025 for the MA Stretch Energy Code Training Series

BE+ plays a crucial role in expanding access and building foundational capacity across the AEC industry. In partnership with the DOER and the sponsors of Mass Save, BE+ subsidized over 250 seats in 2025 for the MA Stretch Energy Code Training Series – building on a strong 2024 cohort totaling over 379 unique participants trained across the two series covering the base, stretch, and specialized energy code.

Pre-training surveys showed most attendees were not confident designing or building to code. After completing the training, more than half reported they could do so confidently.

Looking forward to 2026, BE+ is currently in the process of scheduling our education offerings for 2026. We want to hear from learners and educators. Please complete the 2026 BE+ Education Offerings Survey to let us know what topics you are interested in learning about or propose educational content to teach.