Sustainable Biz Magazine A4 March 2023 - Flipbook - Page 35
We know only too well the impact
that poor internal air quality has on
health - often affecting the poorest
in our communities and putting an
additional burden on the NHS. Taking
action now to help fix our homes,
some of the leakiest in Europe, would
help tackle health inequality and
put more money in the public and
individual homeowners’ purse.
With retrofit comes wider socioeconomic benefits and the
opportunity to upskill and retrain.
Thousands of new jobs will be needed
if the retrofit industry is able to keep
pace with demand to meet net-zero
emissions targets by 2050. Currently
a lack of necessary skills risks creating
a bottleneck, significantly reducing
delivery potential.
In order to redress this, the
construction and training sectors
are working together to create new
technical education pathways for
school leavers and adult learners
and investing in new training
programmes. Similarly, workers can
be given the opportunity to upskill
in new retrofit technologies and
processes and more young people
and adults can be encouraged to
train or retrain in green retrofit
technologies.
"Thousands of new jobs
will be needed if the retrofit
industry is able to keep
pace with demand to meet
net-zero emissions targets
by 2050. Currently a lack of
necessary skills risks creating
a bottleneck, significantly
reducing delivery potential"
General trades – such as gas
engineers, electricians, window fitters,
plasterer/renderers, carpenters,
builders – have a major part to play in
the green revolution.
as consumer trust and confidence,
trader quality and governance).
Over the next couple of months
we will be running events for both
training providers and supply chain
businesses to raise awareness of both
the scale of the retrofit challenge and
the opportunities.
Businesses seeking further
information and advice about retrofit
should contact Hertfordshire Growth
Hub (www.hertsgrowthhub.com) or
please drop me a line.
Helen Pollock,
Clean Growth Manager,
Hertfordshire Local Enterprise
Partnership
Email: info@hertfordshirelep.co.uk
Part of my role as Clean Growth
Manager is to drive engagement
between education and enterprise
to encourage and expand green
skills and retrofit development. By
working closely with local authorities,
housing associations, our four FE
colleges, University of Hertfordshire
and government retrofit delivery
agents, Hertfordshire LEP is helping
to ensure local domestic retrofit
supply businesses are ready to meet
demand while reducing barriers to
retrofit uptake and delivery (such
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