UK Centre for Mould Safety and Environmental Study Centre Announce New Learning Pathway

ESC Learning has announced a new strategic partnership with the UK Centre for Mould Safety (UKCMS), part of the Indoor Air Aware initiative, creating a clear, structured training pathway for professionals seeking to build competence in damp, mould and building health.

The collaboration formally recognises the strength of each organisation’s training offer, aligning foundational building pathology education with specialist mould safety expertise.

As part of the partnership, UKCMS recognises the ABBE Level 3 Award in Damp, Mould and Condensation in Buildings, delivered by ESC Learning, as a robust entry point for professionals. The qualification equips learners with essential skills to investigate buildings, diagnose moisture issues, and identify appropriate remedial actions.

Learners progressing from this foundation can then advance into UKCMS programmes, delivered under the Indoor Air Aware umbrella, which focus on the science of mould, exposure risk, and the safe, effective management of contamination in buildings. These courses provide deeper insight into the health implications of moisture problems and the standards required to manage them properly.

ESC Learning has, in turn, formally recognised the quality and rigour of UKCMS training, recommending it as the next step for those seeking specialist expertise in mould safety and risk management.

Together, the two organisations are establishing a coherent learning pathway that moves the sector beyond basic awareness and towards true professional competence.

Professor John Edwards, Programme Lead, ESC Learning comments: 

“This partnership strengthens the professional pathway for those working in buildings. The ABBE Level 3 Award provides essential diagnostic skills, and UKCMS offers the depth of knowledge required to manage mould risks properly. Together, we are raising the bar for competence in the sector.”

“By linking building pathology with mould science, and embedding this within the wider Indoor Air Aware mission to improve indoor environments, ESC Learning and UKCMS aim to support a step change in standards, ensuring that practitioners are equipped not just to identify problems, but to resolve them safely and effectively.”

Raising Standards Across the Sector

This partnership comes at a critical time, following the introduction of Awaab's Law, which places clear legal duties on landlords to investigate and address damp and mould hazards within defined timeframes.

Ryszard Jankowski, Co-founder and Technical Director, UK Centre for Mould Safety

"Mould indoors is a symptom of how a building is performing - moisture ingress, cold bridging, poor ventilation, building defects. That is the diagnostic ground Professor Edwards' qualification covers, the building pathology. Our courses pick up at the next stage: safe work with, and removal of, damp associated human pathogens and allergens - the whole soup of stuff that causes harm to people.

"Too much of the market runs in the wrong order - an outdated, scientifically illiterate, chemical 'treatment’ approach to mould, with the causes and exposures never properly addressed and often made worse. These products have normalised the routine use of biocides in place of careful biomass removal. That position is no longer tenable.

“This isn’t about scare-mongering, it’s about settled cleaning science, health and safety principles and laws we already have on the books. Professional mould remediation isn’t brain surgery, it’s just careful cleaning. This pathway gives the sector a defensible route from diagnosis through to remediation. That is what protects people, and what protects the building stock.

Lisa Malyon, Founder of Indoor Air Aware and Co-Founder of The UK Centre for Mould Safety comments: 

"The indoor environment shapes our health more than almost any other exposure we encounter. An active mould colony, or a dormant one being cleaned off without controls, releases spores, fragments and microbial by-products into the air we breathe. Sustained exposure, particularly for vulnerable occupants, drives respiratory, immunological and inflammatory disease."

"This partnership is a milestone for public health. Damp and mould in British homes have been normalised for decades, and the cost of that is carried by the NHS and by the households living with it."

Access to training courses can be found at: ESC Learning and UK Centre for Mould Safety (UKCMS). 

ENDS

For more information, please contact Lisa Malyon at Lisa@indoorairaware.co.uk or john@edwardshart.co.uk.