New Report Highlights Urgent Need to Close the Retrofit Skills Gap

Gatsby Charitable Foundation, with support from the climate change charity Ashden and the National Retrofit Hub, has today published a new report, Closing the Retrofit Skills Gap, which explores the issues facing training providers who are looking to develop retrofit skills and identifies how policy needs to change if we are to improve the energy efficiency of housing.

The report, authored by Charlotte Ravenscroft, examines the progress made in retrofit skills development between 2023 and 2024. Despite increasing demand for retrofit expertise, challenges remain in scaling up training opportunities, recruiting skilled tutors, and engaging construction employers—especially SMEs.

Key findings of this latest report include:

• More FE colleges are developing retrofit training but struggle to recruit tutors.
• SMEs lack awareness and are reluctant to invest in training.
• Strategic partnerships between colleges, industry, and local government are emerging as a promising approach.

This report builds on a previous study, commissioned by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, which highlighted the urgent need to train hundreds of thousands of workers in retrofitting and related skills to decarbonise England’s homes. It also found that the UK government lacks a national retrofit strategy, making it difficult for employers and education providers to effectively plan for future skills needs.

The new report calls for a national retrofit strategy to align training, funding, and policy interventions to ensure the UK can meet its climate commitments. It stresses that without a coordinated approach, the UK risks falling behind in its target to upgrade homes with energy-efficient technologies such as insulation, heat pumps, and solar panels. A fragmented training system will leave businesses struggling to find qualified workers, further slowing down progress toward net zero.

Charlotte Ravenscroft, author of the report, said:

“It will be impossible to meet the UK’s net zero target without decarbonising virtually all buildings. This will mean the mass retrofitting of homes and other buildings, including fabric improvements and changeover to low-carbon heating. Recruiting the workforce to carry out retrofitting – and training these workers to a high standard – is therefore a mission-critical task for reaching net zero by 2050.”

She added:

“To be ready for mass retrofitting in England, we will need a combination of new entrants to the workforce learning these skills, the existing workforce to be upskilled, and workers from other industries to be reskilled. Without immediate action, we risk a shortage of skilled professionals that will hinder the transition to a low-carbon future.”

To view the report, visit the Gatsby website.