Earlier this month, we were a key collaborator at the first National Retrofit Conference curated by The Retrofit Academy at Futurebuild in London. As well as establishing an NHDG hub, which eight of our members exhibited from, we hosted a takeover on day one of the conference – with all talks focused on our three pillars of retrofit policy, innovation and skills.
Seven sessions throughout the day involved brilliantly assembled panels including experts from across the industry. Our chair Derek Horrocks represented us in three different talks and our members were involved in many more, featuring the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, TrustMark and Greater Manchester Combined Authority, just to name a few.
Derek said: “The National Retrofit Conference and Futurebuild show is the best event I have ever attended. All day, every day, there were encouraging and interesting conversations taking place. The industry is in a strong position and the importance of policy, innovation and skills are definitely on everyone’s minds.
“It was an ideal platform for the NHDG and its members to engage with the supply chain to discuss how we can all work together and achieve our shared net zero aims. It’s important that we continue communication so that we gain new perspectives and challenge each other on what terms like ‘best practice’ and ‘quality’ really mean.”
The NHDG hub received hundreds of visitors throughout the three-day show, which was our first appearance at an industry event of this scale. We see it as our obligation to lead from the front, and this responsibility is recognised by the many who asked us questions and wanted to learn more about who we are and what we want to achieve.
Derek continued: “With this being the first National Retrofit Conference, I am confident next year will be even bigger and better considering the investment and interest in residential retrofit. While there was a focus on social housing this year, which was to be expected, there was also an emphasis placed on the owner-occupier market and how cross-tenant delivery is managed – demonstrating that the sophistication of work is set to improve.
“The importance of retrofit can’t be underestimated, and everyone should have a viable option to decarbonise their home, so events like this will continue to be important and we look forward to our members being involved.”