The programme has been brought to England for the first time by Efficiency North (EN:Procure) to address the construction skills shortage
Originally delivered in Scotland, the retrofit training programme was delivered for Efficiency North in six colleges in Yorkshire and the Humber.
The main course was delivered at Barnsley College’s Clean Energy Training Centre over four days.
Enrolment is now extended to the whole of England
Green construction skills, including building physics, retrofit, and digital construction methods are the main target of the course with Further Education tutors having access to a curriculum designed around enhancing these skills.
Simeon Perry, head of ESG at EN:Procure, the procurement specialist arm of Efficiency North, said: “With the government’s new Warm Homes Plan investing £15 billion to help upgrade up to five million homes by 2030, delivering energy-efficient retrofit at scale demands a workforce with the right skills and confidence. This is no longer an area where half measures will suffice.
“By partnering with BE-ST, Efficiency North has chosen to invest at the very start of the skills pipeline, equipping educators with the expertise to prepare the next generation of retrofit-ready construction professionals and supporting colleges to meet both immediate and long-term green skills demand.”
NRH say the place-based retrofit is key
The National Retrofit Hub (NRH) released a report last month examining the future of retrofit, and finding that a standard model or approach to retrofitting will not be effective in every project, and therefore advocates for a more case-by-case bespoke approach that takes into account four guiding principles.
The principles are:
1. Collective governance & partnership working:
Place-based partnerships should fairly redistribute decision-making. Equitable governance of retrofit can be achieved through partnerships which enable decision-making to be shaped by a diverse range of actors. It should disrupt models based soley on either top-down or bottom-up working. Instead, ensuring decisions are made as locally as possible and supported where needed. This includes prioritising activities which encourage network building – connecting different actors across differing degrees of authority, agency and influence. This could include collaboration across:
- Organisations working at different scales, such as local, regional, national actors
- Differing levels of authority, such as public, industry or civic-led organisations
- Different sectors, including housing and public health.
2. Collaboration, involvement & participation:
Collaborators, not recipients: co-design should form an important part of a place-based approach. Place-based approaches should enable citizens and stakeholders to work together. Collaboration recognises that homes and neighbourhoods are created, maintained, repaired, and retrofitted through the cooperation of many. Bringing everyone along as partners and collaborators should amplify opportunities to identify value beyond solely market-driven interests or energy efficiency targets.
3. Place-based knowledge & experience:
Evidence grounded in place: place-based retrofit should integrate knowledge gained through lived experience of a place with technical and specialist insights. Emphasis on participation throughout should enable practitioners to learn from and use knowledge and expertise18 gained through citizens’ and stakeholders’ lived experience of a place, as well as technical and specialist knowledge. Each stakeholder’s perspective is shaped by their context and experience. Combining these different perspectives will strengthen decision-making.
4. Mutual & reciprocal relationships:
Designed for reciprocity: place-based approaches should steward relationships built on trust – giving back to eachother rather than just taking from. By stewarding these relationships between actors and integrating social infrastructure – place-based approaches can support people to act reciprocally. This recognises the strengths of existing relational ties between citizens, communities, stakeholders and places themselves. It is about embedding trust, and care within an approach which doesn’t over extract from communities or the environment.
The post National retrofit training programme launched in England appeared first on Planning, Building & Construction Today.
