Rob Hargraves, Retrofit Skills Advisor at Energy Systems Catapult, discusses where the skills gaps are in our journey to decarbonising homes.
Tell us about your role at Energy Systems Catapult
I identify what skills are going to be needed in the future and where there are gaps in the workforce that need to be filled to decarbonise homes successfully. My objective is to make it as easy as possible for people to decarbonise their homes. Specifically we’re looking at skills and trying to bring in a customer-focused or consumer perspective to what we do. Retrofit is a space where you really have to engage with the consumer. You’re working in people’s homes, so you need to bring them with you on that journey and build their trust. To do so you need to inform and educate them.
What is your department’s main goal?
Across the catapult we have teams that work in a range of areas; from network capacity to local area energy plans, and EVs to smart technologies, all aiming to accelerate the transition to clean energy. I am part of a team that works with innovators who are looking to bring new products to market; we work with them to accelerate the transition to clean energy.
You mention skills, what do you mean by that?
Skills is a broad term, and you need a mix of different skills and knowledge when dealing with consumers. On one hand, of course you need the technical skills to be able to design low-carbon heating systems and install them. But you also need softer skills to be able to explain the new technologies and controls to consumers.
That’s our focus, making sure that those working on retrofit projects – which are complex processes – have a collaborative mix of skills to assess, design, install and monitor retrofit measures, but also to educate and inform consumers on their best options.
Talk to us about some of your successful projects
The catapult recently led on a Department for Energy Security & Net Zero (DESNZ)-funded project called the Electrification of Heat Demonstration Project where we installed 742 heat pumps into a variety of homes. We received expressions of interest from over 8,000 people. That project has given us really strong insight and a lot of learning in terms of the skills that are required when installing a new heating system.
We’ve also just produced an in-depth report looking at the lack of diversity within the sector. Only 2% of the engineer workforce are female, which is drastically low, and so our report highlights the barriers to entry, what are the wider issues, and how these might be tackled in order to see a broader, more diverse workforce – something that is essential to meet Net Zero targets.
If we think of the scale that is required to meet government targets, then we desperately need a lot more engineers and lot more people working in retrofit in general. We are potentially missing out on bringing more people into the sector as we are not engaging or attractive to a large part of our population. We’re also missing out on a wide range of benefits that comes with having a diverse workforce – such as different perspectives that are brought in, or even that some people might be more comfortable with having a female engineer in their homes.
Do you envision any future challenges for the industry? And how can it overcome them?
Again, it’s the lack of skills.
There are various government funding schemes out there, such as the Energy Company Obligation that can help people who are on low incomes or in vulnerable households to get funding towards energy efficiency measures. There’s the Boiler Upgrade Scheme – £5,000 towards a heat pump or biomass boiler. But a large majority of the public are unaware of these schemes and additionally, and when there is demand, thee workforce and skills often aren’t there for people to take advantage of the funding.
If we use air source heat pumps as an example – probably the low carbon heating system people talk about the most. To install one, you need to design the entire heating system correctly so that it can run efficiently. Without the knowledge and skills to do so, it leads to systems being installed incorrectly and the customer being burdened with poor results and high running costs – this adversely affects the consumer’s trust and confidence, negatively impacting the rollout of the technology and the retrofit process in general.
It all comes down to taking a holistic approach. Making sure the skills are there. Making sure the standards are enforced and upheld. Making sure there is an informed customer base. Retrofit can be very complex, due to home disruption and overall cost, but we do need to start building a skilled workforce as quickly as possible to decarbonise.
Where do you feel the largest skills shortage lies in the decarbonisation of heat in buildings?
There aren’t enough heat pump installers operating in the UK. The latest figures are around 3,000 and, for where we need to get, that needs to go up to anywhere between 50-100,000.
Also, there is a need for more training for retrofit advice, to get people up to speed on providing high quality, commercially independent retrofit advice to households. Good advice will increase the trust and confidence consumers have in retrofit processes and the benefits they bring.
There’s also a training gap in post-install monitoring and evaluation. Using new digital tools, this is a big opportunity – if we can start measuring the performance of properties accurately post-install, we can provide future customers with more guarantees and assurances around the benefits they’ll see.
What do you believe will have the most positive impact on reaching a net zero future?
I think a change in perception on heat pumps will have the most positive impact. If we think about electric cars, ten years ago very few people had them but slowly, as new and improved cars arrived in the market the conversation started to shift and consumers began to see them as an attractive investment. We need a similarly attractive offer for heat pumps that will encourage consumers to switch over.
This will have a big impact as you’re essentially asking people to change their heating system to an unfamiliar technology, where there’s a lot of disruption and cost and not necessarily lower running costs. That’s a hard sell and so we need to build a positive consumer offer around the new technology to increase its rollout.
