Essex retrofit programme receives its second award in the space of a month at the Unlock Net Zero Live Awards 2023.

The Harlow and Tendring Retrofit Pipeline for Economic Renewal programme received the ‘Collaboration of the year – knowledge building and research’ award at the Unlock Net Zero Live Awards 2023.

Essex County Council and the Retrofit Academy CIC received the award for their partnership work on the tailored programme, which saw more than 240 residents receive fully funded retrofit qualifications.

Retrofitting is the process of adding additional functionality to existing buildings to make them more sustainable, such as by installing heat pumps or solar panels.

The inaugural Unlock Net Zero Live Awards 2023 were hosted at Housing 2023, Europe’s largest housing festival, which explored the reality of the net zero transition for housing and the built environment.

This achievement marks the second award win of the year for the project, which delivered qualifications from levels 2 to 5 via the UK’s first franchised domestic retrofit trainer – the Retrofit Academy: Essex. The programme won the Delivering Clean Growth category at the prestigious ADEPT President’s Awards in May. 

Cllr Tom Cunningham, Essex County Council’s Cabinet Member for Planning a Growing Economy, said: “With more than 600,000 Essex properties needing to be retrofitted, it is more important than ever that we have a workforce ready to meet this demand. We are thrilled to have received another award for this impactful programme, which has supported individuals and businesses to upskill and deliver net-zero targets.

“Not only does this programme help to accelerate our Sector Development Strategy, which commits us to strengthening the construction and clean energy sectors, but it has also helped to improve economic outcomes for residents in two of the county’s Levelling Up priority places, Harlow and Tendring."

Cllr Tony Ball, Essex County Council’s Cabinet Member for Education Excellence, Lifelong Learning and Employability, added: “By working with our adult education provider – ACL Essex – and experts at the Retrofit Academy CIC, we were able to deliver an adaptive and innovative training programme, ready to meet the needs of residents today and into the future.

“We are extremely proud of the recognition the programme has received, with two award wins within one month. We look forward to supporting more residents and businesses to fill skills gaps and work towards a more sustainable future for Essex.”