The social benefits of retrofit: Exploring how retrofit can enhance our communities across Wales.
Introduction
As the climate crisis accelerates and the push for decarbonization intensifies, the importance of retrofit—upgrading existing buildings to improve energy efficiency—has never been clearer. In Wales, where nearly 1.5 million homes require energy-efficient upgrades, the demand for skilled professionals in the retrofit sector is rapidly rising. This transformation isn’t just about reducing carbon emissions; it’s about creating jobs, empowering communities, and delivering long-term social value.
For education providers, this is a unique opportunity to shape the workforce of tomorrow, ensuring Wales can meet its ambitious sustainability targets. In this blog, we’ll explore the skills benefits, the specific skills required to make retrofit a success while unlocking significant social benefits.
So what are the real benefits of retrofit for Wales for the workforces of Wales? Are we ready for change?
At this time of year, our colleges are busy enrolling educating the trades people of the future and it is safe to say that they will most definitely need to pivot their capabilities to complete the tasks that are going to be asked of them in the near future to deliver Retrofit across both Commercial and Domestic dwellings. But what an opportunity! We need to be voicing this potential sea-change now with the plethora of opportunities being a key driving force to attracting our school leavers, job seekers and others into the trade’s professions.
As someone with close connections to the building services sector, one observation I would make is the need for clarity around what retrofit means for each profession individually and what opportunities are there to build the buzz words of the sector “multi-skilled engineers”.
The impact on workers has been significantly understated. Most of the focus is on job creation and how 400,000 to 500,000 new roles will be created in green sectors. In reality, about 4 million workers—more than one-eighth of the UK workforce—must be reskilled by 2030
In researching what available information is available out there in terms of pathways and training a few evenings ago and noticed a great landing page by the Retrofit Skills Centre, North London Partnership which allows the trades workforce to access all the knowledge that they need to build a hyper personalised learning journey as their profession evolves. Such a great initiative with the multi skilled angle to providing the profession as a whole with the opportunities to cross train and have an appreciation for retrofit across multiple angles. This is something that skills across the region should be thinking of doing, building a collaborative approach to allowing the workforce to build a pick and mix approach to personal development.
The impact on workers has been significantly understated. Most of the focus is on job creation and how 400,000 to 500,000 new roles will be created in green sectors. In reality, about 4 million workers—more than one-eighth of the UK workforce—must be reskilled by 2030
There must be a strategy to supporting industry in delivering the reskilling of the workforce in addition to supporting new entrants to gain the skills relevant to the immerging needs of industry. How long before the skills being taught across education are as specific as possible to renewable energy and not focused on more traditional methods of working across the trades and build services.
The scale and speed of the required reskilling is unprecedented. The decline in coal mining in the UK saw the loss of roughly 1.1 million roles over a 70-year span. The net-zero transition will impact four times as many people in a tenth of the time frame.
Advancing knowledge and capability to support with skills development
We all seem to be less fearful about how technology can support decarbonisation and retrofit. I still believe that there is a lot more that needs to be done within education to support with the development of digital skills for industry. One of the key pieces of equipment on site today is a smart devise which needs to act as a guide and a toolkit to support with the delivery of a service. Most of us are using smart technology day in day out which is great, but there needs to be a shift in how our smart phones can now be our access to guides, learning, information and relevant knowledge to our profession to allow for development and enhanced capability to manage the new requirement of our roles as we enter the retrofit era.
As an example, a report published by Bain and Co in September 2024 indicated that people need to be comfortable in using technology to enable the delivery of retrofit. Referenced in the report was the impact of heat pump technology which will be the first key area of focus for the workforce as heat pump adoption will need to be significantly faster than that for of other heating technologies.
In addition, With the rise of smart technologies and data-driven energy solutions, digital literacy is becoming increasingly important in retrofit careers. This includes:
- Utilizing building information modelling (BIM) for project planning and management
- Monitoring and optimizing energy use through digital platforms
- Data analysis for tracking the impact of retrofits on energy savings and carbon reduction
At the heart of retrofit is the development of ‘green skills’—from understanding sustainable materials and energy-efficient technologies to mastering the installation of renewable energy systems. Training in these areas not only prepares individuals for retrofit-specific roles but also equips them with versatile skills applicable in the wider green economy, opening doors to other sustainability-focused industries.
Adopting technology is a social change for many however with the need to reskill being an emergency, scalable technology to reach the workforce is critical to delivering the competency to the nation.
The scale and speed of the required reskilling is unprecedented. The decline in coal mining in the UK saw the loss of roughly 1.1 million roles over a 70-year span. The net-zero transition will impact four times as many people in a tenth of the time frame. About 4 million workers need to be reskilled in the next seven years to enable the energy transition.
The journey toward a more sustainable Wales is paved with opportunities for training providers, workers, and communities alike. By developing the necessary skills and training programs, we can not only meet the technical requirements of retrofit projects but also unlock the significant social value they offer.
As the demand for energy-efficient homes and buildings continues to grow, the careers that will deliver retrofit are key to building a resilient, prosperous, and green future for Wales. Let’s ensure our workforce is ready for the challenge, and in doing so, create a legacy of social value for generations to come.
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