David Pierpoint Joins the Greater Manchester Retrofitting Task Force
A new task force has been established by Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) to bring together local and national government, energy providers and industry experts to drive a revolution in low-carbon homes and jobs.
The Greater Manchester Retrofitting Task Force held its inaugural meeting Thursday 20th May, chaired by Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, to start setting out a detailed action plan to deliver low-carbon retrofitting across the city-region. Heating is the single biggest source of carbon emissions in Greater Manchester, and up to 60,000 homes will need retrofitting every year to meet GMCA’s own Net Zero target.
The task force will include representatives from local and national government, social landlords, building authorities, colleges, energy suppliers, industry experts and investors. Using the expertise and influence of its members, the Retrofitting Task Force will look to push forward a series of agreed actions and maximise investment and public funding, particularly to support those least able to pay for retrofitting measures.
We’re delighted to announce The Retrofit Academy CIC CEO, David Pierpoint, has joined the task force to help make a difference:
I’m delighted to have joined the Greater Manchester Retrofit Task Force. Manchester is the ideal crucible for retrofit with the population. The cohesion and scale required to make this happen will be amplified by some great organisations and people on the ground.
Installing energy efficiency improvements is a key tool for tackling the climate crisis, housing crisis, and jobs crisis. The aim of the task force will be to outline how home and building improvements can take place on a mass scale, while identifying opportunities to boost new skills, create good jobs, and drive investment in low-carbon industries. All of these goals are designed to support a sustainable economic recovery from the pandemic and meet Greater Manchester’s target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2038 – 12 years ahead of the national target.
The work of the task force will build on funding already secured by the GMCA to run the Green Homes Grant Local Authority Delivery scheme, which provides grants of up to £10,000 for energy efficiency improvements for low-income households. To date, the GMCA has been awarded £27m by Government for the scheme, delivered in partnership across the city-region with E.ON.
