More Than a Numbers Game: Why Winning the Race to the Top in Retrofit Training is the Big Prize
Author: David Pierpoint, CEO of The Retrofit Academy
We have seen lots of successes and growth in the domestic retrofit industry recently. With more available funding than ever before, and more retrofitters becoming qualified, the industry is making positive strides towards achieving its highly ambitious targets.
Since its creation, there are several numbers that The Retrofit Academy is particularly proud of, including:
- The 7,000 learners that have enrolled with us since 2016.
- The UK’s first 2,500 Retrofit Coordinators being trained through us.
- The 52% of our learners who have been promoted enjoyed a salary increase, or gone on to set up their own business within a short time after graduating.
- The £3 million of government funding that we were able to bring to the market in 2023 to reduce the training cost burden to the sector.
And there are two more numbers that I’m incredibly passionate about. The 27 million homes that need retrofitting – a number that stubbornly refuses to decrease. And, the 26 years we have until 2050, when we must deliver net zero – a frustratingly ever-narrowing window of opportunity.
Quality Over Quantity
There’s no doubt that numbers are important.
But the reality is that training retrofitters is not just a numbers game. It’s about training people to the required standard, ensuring they are competent enough to do the jobs that their educational certificates suggest they should be. Are we focused enough on that aspect, or just playing the numbers game? Surely the entire concept of retrofitting is about deploying talented and highly-skilled retrofitters, capable of delivering high-quality retrofit rather than merely ticking a box.
The Retrofit Academy’s Commitment
The Retrofit Academy has invested a lot of time and money in developing our courses – around three years for our Level 5 Diploma in Retrofit Coordination and Risk Management qualification – which includes several thousand quality assured learning assets assembled by our expert technical team. To make sure that they continue to meet the high-quality needed for our graduates to deliver retrofit at scale well into the future, we pledge that we will continue to improve our courses in line with whatever standards come our way.
As the driving force in retrofit knowledge and skills, The Retrofit Academy has been at the forefront of industry developments since 2016, and we remain committed to ensuring that quality is firmly embedded into the training that we provide, and that we continue to develop our learners long after they graduate. The work that we do unarguably has a direct impact on the environment but, more importantly, it improves the quality of life of the residents of the 26 million homes that need to be retrofitted. With that in mind, the question that we must ask ourselves is, are the other players in the market just as committed to quality? Do they have the correct learning materials with accuracy and quality built in? Do they follow a similar development process for their courses?
An Industry-Wide Priority
This is something that all players in the retrofit market, from trainers and awarding bodies, to government and employers, need to be committed to prioritising if we are to achieve high-quality retrofit on such a large scale.
If you want to kickstart your career in retrofit, why not find out more about why The Retrofit Academy is ‘The One’ for high-quality retrofit knowledge and skills.
