Improving the energy efficiency of Britain’s homes: the opportunity

The UK has a legal commitment to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050. A big part of the reductions will come from cutting the use of fossil fuels in existing homes. The construction sector has a huge role to play in this work.

Our latest piece of joint research with TrustMark, aimed to find out more about the domestic energy efficiency retrofit market, the businesses who carry out this work, and the skills they need. This will help the industry plan future skills needs for this critical part of the construction sector.

Some key findings from the research:

• 92% of firms involved in retrofit work have fewer than 50 employees
• The main trades in demand are insulation installers and plumbers and HVAC trades
• Longer term funding commitments are required to give SMEs confidence to engage with this work
• Three quarters of businesses are looking to expand their retrofit work.

The research analysed 12 months of data from the TrustMark data warehouse and includes interviews from TrustMark registered contractors and Retrofit Assessors and Coordinators.