Retrofit skills crisis: alternative training methods could be the answer

The Retrofit Academy estimates that there is a shortfall of 200,000 workers needed to achieve net zero in the retrofit sector.

As the preeminent authority on retrofit knowledge and skills, this news is a stress signal from an industry under pressure.

With residential properties contributing more than 20% of the UK’s carbon emissions due to factors including poor insulation and single-glazed windows, this skills shortage is threatening the ability of our industry to retrofit these homes and meet government targets of net zero by 2050.

Durkan has been exploring the role of alternative training methods as part of a holistic approach to solving the retrofit skills crisis.

In particular, we’ve found success in the use of skills bootcamps to supplement traditional pathways and train the retrofitters of the future.

Skills bootcamps provide onsite, targeted training with tight timescales. They also open up opportunities for career progression and an offer of wage certainty.

Good-quality entry-level learners are developed specifically and quickly to meet the needs of the retrofit sector and understand its primary principles, such as quality of installation and regulatory compliance.

This is a key area of growth that Durkan is supporting and it’s been working really well for us, landing effectively with our trainees and delivering good results on the retrofit projects that they go on to tackle.

At the end of 2024, Durkan supported a five-week roofing and retrofit bootcamp hosted in partnership with the Build East branch of construction training group the Skills Centre, housing association and residential developer L&Q and roofing contractors Bauder and London Felt.

This bootcamp equipped its cohort of students with the foundations they needed to kickstart promising careers in the roofing trade.

Its success was illustrated by some of its participants securing placements in roofing with Bauder and London Felt.

We are also running bootcamps that focus on a range of other core competencies, including cladding, window or door replacements, scaffolding, insulation and fire protection.

We know that equipping learners with skills in these key areas is essential, not only to ensure that our sector is decarbonised, but also that quality and safety remain at the forefront of our work.

Training entrants to our industry in this way offers the opportunity for targeted, volume job creation.

This example of speeding boots onto the ground is a microcosm of what could be delivered by the wider industry and is a great example of how one-off bootcamps can be effective.

However, we still need to join the dots if we want to develop a high-quality, flexible and repeatable training model that meets the retrofit sector’s needs and leads directly to employment.

And it’s not just new entrants who can benefit from this approach. Bootcamps can also upskill those already in the industry by equipping experienced operatives with new knowledge that enables them to contribute in different ways.

Many existing programmes often discourage participation from those already in employment, as they don’t provide wages while the training takes place.

This means individuals feel they can’t afford to take time out of work to complete them. But this doesn’t have to be the case.

If there was, for example, government funding to cover these wages for the duration of each bootcamp, then this relatively inexpensive four- to five-week investment would quickly and efficiently open up a rich vein of talent to the retrofit industry. 

There is no silver bullet to solving the skills crisis in retrofit, and the added pressure of reaching net zero by 2050 is making this challenge all the more daunting.

But by utilising the full range of channels available to us and thinking of different ways to deliver training, there are concrete steps we can take towards providing a launchpad for those entering our industry, as well as upskilling those already working with us.

Durkan’s recent success with skills bootcamps shows how we are already tapping into this potential.

With joined-up backing from local authorities, government and the private sector, this approach could be rolled out industry-wide.

Kevin O’Connor is head of social value delivery at Durkan.