Our expertise
We are developing of the UK’s Green Skills workforce and have the expertise to design programmes to make our homes and workplaces more energy efficient.
Our Energy Hub provides training, job opportunities, energy advice and consultancy solutions to propel the UK along it’s trajectory to Net Zero.
Our research guides the development of our services and influences policy making.
Delivering retrofit
Retrofit is critical for the UK’s net zero targets to be met. Every minute, two houses need to be retrofitted to achieve our 2030 target.
In social housing, retrofitting may not be just about climate change – it also helps to alleviate fuel poverty and present career opportunities to local people. Approximately 80% of fuel poor households are EPC banding D or below. So, the households that most need energy efficiency have the worst performing houses.
We train and upskill people into the retrofit workforce by delivering training courses for new retrofit assessors, coordinators and installers.
We can also deliver both small and large scale Retrofit Assessments for organisations with large domestic asset bases, such as local authorities and housing associations, through our own skilled workforce and local partnerships.
Our partner OEA
Independent, work-focused learning
We utilise the experience of Oxford Energy Academy, a leading heating and plumbing training and assessment centre based in Witney.
OEA was rated Good by Ofsted in 2022:
“Apprentices benefit from well-planned and motivational lessons that are taught by skilled staff.”
“They develop new knowledge and skills which enable them quickly to become proficient and valued employees.”
Policy and research
We undertake research to help continuously improve our services, support innovation and learn from best practice.
July 2023 - The retrofit challenge: playing our part
The Climate Change Committee’s recent progress report to Parliament could not have made it clearer that the workforce and skills pipeline is not scaling up at a sufficient rate to deliver net zero targets, describing it as “significantly off track”.
The retrofit challenge: playing our part takes stock of where we are in delivering the retrofit challenge, looking at some of the issues holding back progress and making some suggestions for increasing pace and scale.
Our analysis suggests that demand for retrofit workers is growing, with job postings in March 2023 twice what they were a year before. The report also looks at the retrofit skills in demand, finding that transferable skills such as communication and customer service are key in managing projects and supporting households, as well as the wide range of technical skills needed. Supporting construction contractors with the costs of entering the retrofit market, stepping up the drive to recruit trainers from industry and promoting flexible working in the sector are just three of the steps that could boost the retrofit workforce pipeline now.
You can download our report here.
