How do we create a “gold standard” for retrofit compliance and quality assurance?

At Morgan Sindall Property Services, our resident liaison officers play a vital role in building a relationship with residents to make sure they have a good understanding of the process. This includes one-on-one consultations, easy-to-read material which maps out the retrofit process, 3D models to show before and after works have taken place, community engagement days and an aftercare service to check that residents are satisfied and to allow them to raise any issues. 

We also refrain from using buzzwords, including the phrase ‘net zero’ itself, as they create barriers for residents to engage with the process. Instead, we talk about warmer, healthier, more comfortable homes, and explain the process through personal stories and humanisation.

Considered resident engagement leads to retrofit that works for residents, creating homes that are energy-efficient, comfortable and meet their residents’ needs.

Improve the quality of training

To retrofit the required number of homes and meet climate goals, the industry needs a skilled workforce. Without immediate investment in training and the adoption of innovative learning solutions, the UK risks falling behind on its targets​.

Little of the progress we seek can be made without a workforce with the skills to deliver decarbonisation solutions. The UK will need an additional 500,000 tradespeople, but currently a significant gap exists in both skills and investment in the housing industry.

This monumental task can only be accomplished if we begin the process now of developing a skilled workforce that can rapidly and effectively retrofit homes to meet the highest energy efficiency standards. 

The training needed to upskill this workforce needs to be robust, and needs to include the latest PAS 2035 requirements. We need to focus on training people to the required standard, ensuring they are competent enough to do the jobs, without focusing on purely the numbers and the volume.

By identifying a training platform that aligns with your organisation’s specific needs and delivery programmes, and by ensuring the curriculum is tailored to achieve these rigorous standards, we can develop a workforce equipped to meet the challenges of sustainable housing retrofit. Through this approach, we not only address immediate industry demands but also set a foundation for long-term environmental and economic benefits.

We need to ensure that the training delivers highly skilled retrofitters, capable of delivering high-quality retrofit so that we keep up quality assurance. League tables and certification standards can help in achieving this.

This is something that all stakeholders in the retrofit industry need to get behind and prioritise, if we are to achieve high-quality retrofit on a large scale. The skills of trained professional surveyors, architects and engineers are essential to effective, safe retrofit.

Knowledge-sharing and collaboration

The focus remains on the power of sharing knowledge and the valuable lessons learned on the journey to decarbonisation. Exchanging knowledge through a database of case studies helps spread best practice and build confidence when retrofitting.

We also encourage the creation of platforms for knowledge-sharing where stakeholders can exchange insights and innovations. These can serve as useful benchmarks, enabling the adoption of effective strategies, methodologies and technologies that have proven successful in specific situations.

Retrofit may seem daunting, but with a human-centred, collaborative and far-sighted approach, we can meet our decarbonisation goals and build a lasting legacy of sustainable housing.

Mustafa Mustafa, head of decarbonisation, Morgan Sindall Property Services