Retrofit Review - next issue - curated by us

Welcome to the new issue

Hello everyone

It's new issue time again and another busy fortnight has elapsed. Perhaps you visited or exhibited at last week's FutureBuild - maybe we even got to meet up in-person!

As ever another busy fortnight beckons - next week's Lancashire Retrofit Summit (online over 3 mornings 21-23 March) will be addressing (among other things) how to overcome regulatory barriers to retrofit for energy efficiency in residential homes, such as restrictions in Conservation Areas, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty or listed buildings. We have a super programme of talks, discussion and live Q&A - all delivered in a highly engaging and interactive way. Come along. Click to register free before 4pm Monday

Meanwhile, lots of news, views and action to share with you. Read on retrofitters...

📰 News & Opinion

BRE highlights 'excessively cold' homes in private rented sector - Property Industry Eye

Excessively cold homes in England alone could be costing the NHS £540m a year in preventable costs, according to the Building Research Establishment (BRE) – and the organisation says many of those homes are in the private rented sector - also the focus on Morning 3 of our online Lancashire Retrofit Summit - click to register free before 4pm Monday.

Ofgem touts proposals to build more localised and flexible net zero power grid | BusinessGreen News

Britain's energy regulator has launched two related consultations, one on the future of local energy institutions and governance to help prepare for the rapidly growing uptake of consumer technologies such as electric vehicles and heat pumps, and another on building better grid flexibility. Both the consultations close on 10 May, 2023.

New National Retrofit Hub launched

The National Retrofit Hub is backed by over 40 organisations including Innovate UK, TrustMark, Sustainable Development Foundation, UK Green Building Council and the Federation of Master Builders.

Retro-fitting buildings for energy efficiency – is it worth it? – LandlordZONE

Building owners (landlords) are understandably hesitant about investing thousands into their buildings to meet energy efficiency targets, but there are other benefits..

How retrofitting the UK’s old buildings can generate an extra £35bn in new money | Construction industry | The Guardian

Heritage and property groups outline plan to boost energy efficiency at historical sites to create jobs, cut emissions and meet net-zero targets

Heritage and hard-to-treat properties are on the agenda for our online Lancashire Retrofit Summit AM's, 21-23 March - click to register free before 4pm Monday.

Foreign construction workers set to be brought in to fill labour shortages | Yorkshire Post

The UK is reportedly looking to tackle labour shortages in construction by allowing more foreign workers to come into the country.

British Gas launches decarbonisation services - elemental

British Gas has introduced new services in solar, home energy efficiency, insulation and electric vehicles to accelerate its customers’ journey to decarbonisation.

📅 Events

Focusing on hard-to-treat homes

If you’re wrestling with how to overcome regulatory barriers to retrofit for energy efficiency in residential homes, such as restrictions in Conservation Areas, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty or listed buildings, then you need to attend the Lancashire Retrofit Summit from 21-23 March and meet the Cosy Homes in Lancashire (CHiL) team who are addressing those challenges as they move to their next phase of home retrofit.

Click the link to register 🆓 (before 4pm Monday) to access 3 mornings of informative and engaging sessions + discussion and Q&A with other like-minded folks.

👷🏽‍♀️👷🏽‍♂️ Skills and Training

£5 million Heat Training Grant announced to train installers on low carbon heating - Installer Online

To propel the move to cleaner energy in homes, a new £5 million Heat Training Grant will support 10,000 trainees over the next two years to become low carbon heating experts

🏠 Residents & Engagement

Power in the City | Podfollow

New episodes! The way that climate change is spoken about in the media and by experts can seem a bit dry, abstract and doesn’t feel like it relates to you and me or where we live. What can we actually do? Well, as it turns out - quite a bit! Power in the City features authentic voices, places and stories showing the every-day ways that people are responding to the climate emergency from within their own neighbourhoods.

🤩 Local/Regional Action

New courses in retrofitting available to boost employment opportunities | FE News

NEW training courses in retrofitting have launched to help individuals boost their careers, while ensuring Greater Manchester has a skilled workforce for achieving its carbon neutral ambition by 2038.

Run-down Hull homes to be brought back to life with innovative 'modules' - Hull Live

A Hull housing charity has joined forces with a digital manufacturing firm to explore new ways of bringing run-down properties back to life using 'Lego-like' blocks.

Call for clear guidance on how to make historic homes green | Islington Tribune

Campaigners – ‘Town Hall’s planning system needs to allow more retrofitting measures’

We examine exactly this and related issues at our Lancashire Retrofit Summit online AM's 21-23 March - join us for focused talks, discussion and Q&A - click to register 🆓 before 4pm Monday

LGA Climate Change Programme – regional retrofit action plan training | Local Government Association

Bringing together officers of all levels to support them with developing the tools, skills, opportunities and capabilities required to help grow the retrofit sector in their region.

Climate change starts at home | Harrogate Advertiser

John Kerr, Harrogate's ZCH Retrofit programme manager: The 30 million homes in the UK account for around a fifth of the county’s total carbon emissions. You might not know that homes in Yorkshire and the Humber are the least efficient in the country, according to the English Housing Survey Report 2020-21.

City of Edinburgh Council ramps up housing investment with £173m package | Scottish Housing News

The council is one of the first local authorities in Scotland to pilot a ‘whole house retrofit’ approach and this will be adopted fully in 2023. This will focus on improvements to the fabric of buildings and energy performance including design and development work for at least four multi-storey blocks.

💬 Reports, Research, Guides

CCC: Here’s how the UK can get reliable zero-carbon electricity by 2035 - Carbon Brief

The CCC’s new report is based on new hour-by-hour modelling of the country’s electricity system out to 2035, which includes stress-tests of how it could ride out extended “wind droughts”.

In practice: Decarbonising social housing – what we have learnt at URBED | Architects Journal

Wolfgang Küchler, Diana Tarcatu and Kimberley Androliakos from the retrofit team at URBED reflect on their experiences in the growing Social Housing Decarbonisation sector and offer tips for other architects thinking of getting involved

Energy Efficiency increasingly important to would-be tenants | Letting Agent Today

Good EPC ratings are increasingly important for tenants when considering which properties to rent, it’s been claimed.

Old walls, new life? Britain’s builders embrace the retrofit revolution | The Guardian

Retrofitting the UK’s historic buildings, from Georgian townhouses to the mills and factories that kickstarted the Industrial Revolution, could generate £35bn of economic output a year, create new jobs and help the government achieve its climate goals, according to a new report jointly authored by the National Trust, the housing trust Peabody, Historic England, the crown estate and Grosvenor.

Drop into our online (and 🆓) Lancashire Retrofit Summit (Weds, Morning 2) when we hear from the National Trust's Public Policy Officer speaking about retrofit for conservation areas, and listed and historical buildings - ℹ click to register free before 4pm Monday

CLC Publishes Report into Shortage of Occupations in Construction » Construction Leadership Council

The Construction Leadership Council has published its report of shortage occupations in construction and its updated guidance to help construction businesses access the Points Based Immigration System.

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