Article by David Pierpoint, curator, National Retrofit Conference and Founder, The Retrofit Academy

This year’s National Retrofit Conference will be the fifth time we at The Retrofit Academy CIC have curated the retrofit content at Futurebuild. Looking back at the early programmes, there was clearly a major anxiety about not doing enough retrofit, on the one hand, and not doing it well enough, on the other. By contrast, this year’s programme focuses on scaling successful approaches such that we are not only improving individual homes and lives but regenerating communities, towns, cities and regions. It is a spirit of urban renewal little seen since the late 2000s.

It’s clear that a great deal of progress has been made in the domestic retrofit arena over the past few years, Covid notwithstanding. Together with the optimism borne of a new and progressive government, increased investment multiplied by increased capability appears to herald a golden age of housing retrofit. This year’s programme focuses on scaling up and enabling transformation, not on the whether or when.

Day One is delivered in partnership with the National Home Decarbonisation Group (NHDG), addressing their triple pillars of Leadership, Innovation and Skills. With a multi-billion-pound Warm Homes Programme unveiled by the government last autumn, the social housing and local government sector is looking for the pathfinder exemplars that others can enthusiastically adopt. In the race for the massive carbon savings needed by 2030, everybody needs to be a winner. We take a deep dive in to the opportunities and challenges of retrofitting a global city like London, whilst Minister for Energy Consumers Miatta Fahnbulleh outlines Labour’s Net Zero vision. The twin enablers, skills and technology, dominate the later sessions. Our first ever Big Retrofit Challenge will see six innovations pitched to a panel of Tier One dragons.

Wednesday’s programme addresses the other side of the retrofit conundrum: doing retrofit right at scale. Less than a decade since poor quality work resulted in a hiatus in the UK’s retrofit drive, standards and consumer protection remain centre-stage. Keynote speaker and TrustMark CEO Simon Ayers must be a man with many answers but even more questions. We also consider the importance of balanced outcomes from retrofit, in a debate on whether People First retrofit is the right mantra for the industry. Sessions on conservation and data management are the prelude to the all-important question of whether retrofit is sufficiently attractive to private investors to lessen the addition to public subsidy.

The final day is about community-led retrofit. Tackling issues such as EPC reform, green finance innovation and managing complexity, this day considers how community-led retrofit can be scaled up and see the impacts maximised. Colleagues from the National Retrofit Hub will put their own spin on this burgeoning area of retrofit progress.

Free-to-attend, a great learning and networking event, The National Retrofit Conference should be a fixture in your diary. We look forward to welcoming you.