Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change & Net Zero, Ed Miliband, attended the launch of Retrofit West, a project aiming to support domestic retrofit across the West of England.
Metro Mayor Dan Norris announced the £10 million plan to deliver home improvements and better energy efficiency for residents.
Retrofit West will involve a new Home Owner Advice Service, plugging a gap in existing support where there has been no clear advice on what people can do to retrofit their homes even when they want to. This will be followed by investment to help families pay for retrofit projects.
Additional money will also be invested in developing retrofit skills, increasing the number of businesses in this sector. This builds on schemes the Mayoral Combined Authority is already running to develop green skills across the regional economy, including helping people become trained retrofit assessors.
Dan Norris said:
In Westminster we have a government that isn’t taking the climate emergency seriously. It’s fallen to us here in the West of England to deliver the change that people want to see. That’s why I’m investing £10 million in a new retrofit scheme that will help people cut the cost of their energy bills, make their homes more energy efficient, and reduce their carbon emissions.
We’re also going to redouble our support for young people to develop the skills they need to go into green industries, including Retrofit, in the future. Workers with the skills to meet the demands of a greener economy will have better paid, more secure jobs in an ever more important sector.
Andrew Sissions, Deputy Director for Sustainable Future, Nesta, attended the launch event and tweeted: “The aim is to ‘make retrofitting as easy as getting a new bathroom or kitchen’, says Mayor Dan Norris.”
Retrofit West is a Community Interest Company (CIC) created by the Centre for Sustainable Energy, one of the country’s leading retrofit and energy advice organisations, with funding from the West of England Combined Authority.
