New Retrofit Academy Partnerships to Upscale Retrofit Training and Create Local Jobs
Partnerships announced in East Sussex, Belfast, Devon and Essex – more to follow!
The Retrofit Academy CIC is pleased to announce new partnerships across four key regions of the UK. This will see the establishment of Retrofit Academy centres in Devon, Essex, Belfast and East Sussex. Through the partnerships, The Retrofit Academy will:
- work with the local authorities, key employers and clients to identify demand for retrofit jobs
- train appropriate volumes of Retrofit Coordinators, Assessors and Advisors to meet the initial demand
- work with employers to place trainees into appropriate jobs
- work with FE and HE providers to train their lecturers to deliver those courses locally
- work with local partners to create Retrofit Academy branded training centres
Speaking on behalf of The Retrofit Academy, chief executive David Pierpoint said:
“Our mission is to train over 200,000 competent retrofitters by 2030. We simply can’t achieve that as the training provider ourselves – we need to support others to develop their own capabilities and serve their local markets. These partnerships will allow us to work with large-scale education providers to deliver training at scale and to the same high standards that we would deliver ourselves.”
The partnerships are between The Retrofit Academy and:
Devon County Council, Exeter College and Plymouth College in Devon
Essex County Council and Adult Community Learning (ACL) in Essex
East Sussex College Group, supported by funding from the Department for Education, in East Sussex
Belfast City Council, Workforce and Belfast Metropolitan University in Belfast.
“Our mission is to train over 200,000 competent retrofitters by 2030.”
Job Creation and Social Value Partnerships
As well as setting up and supporting new Retrofit Academy Hubs, partnerships are being created to capture the economic benefits of retrofit locally. This involves collaboration between contractors and key social landlords – who are the most likely job creators.
In Belfast, the training consortium are teaming up with the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, which has pledged to start delivering retrofit at scale.
In Essex, a partnership has been agreed with Warmworks, the managing agent for the southeast region delivering government-funded programmes worth over £100m in 2022-23.
“Bringing employers to the table who will guarantee interviews for qualified staff will help create jobs. It will also result in local jobs being delivered by local people, benefitting the local economy and environment.”, commented David Pierpoint.
“We would now like to invite other local authorities, LEPs and education providers to step forwards to form partnerships across the UK”.
NOTES TO EDITORS
The Retrofit Academy Community Interest Company (CIC) is a not-for-profit organisation based in Staffordshire. Our vision is a world where every home is warm, healthy and low carbon. The Academy has trained over 1800 Retrofit Coordinators and developed four nationally-accredited qualifications. It also supports over 400 member organisations to embrace retrofit best practice.
The Academy is collaborating with Essex and Devon County Councils through the Community Renewal Fund.
