Careers in domestic retrofit

Explore career opportunities in the domestic retrofitting.

Welcome to your comprehensive guide on career pathways into the growing field of domestic retrofitting. Whether you're a novice looking to start a new career or a seasoned professional aiming to upskill, this guide offers a clear roadmap to a rewarding career in retrofitting.

Retrofit careers

What is retrofit?

Retrofitting includes a wide variety of jobs and skills that help to improve the energy efficiency of existing buildings. When a property has been retrofitted it can retain heat for longer. This increases the comfort of a home whilst also lowering energy usage which can result in lowered energy costs and carbon emissions.

There are a wide variety of retrofitting jobs requiring lots of different skills. Some help to reduce heat loss, such as fitting various forms of insulation, and others involve replacing fossil fuel heating systems with low carbon technologies such as heat pumps. Retrofitting also requires skills in a variety of other important areas such as energy advice, digital design, and project management.

The demand for retrofit

Lowering our energy consumption and switching to renewable technologies such as solar or heat pumps, plays a huge role in reducing our carbon emissions.

Heating and powering our homes accounts for just over a quarter (28%) of our region’s carbon emissions, making retrofitting incredibly important to achieving our environmental goals.

Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) indicate that over 250,000 homes in the West of England require retrofitting. That’s a huge amount of retrofitting work over the next few years to meet our net zero targets.

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Retrofit careers

Why get into retrofit?

You would be directly helping people to live more comfortably in their homes and reduce their energy consumption in a cost-of-living crisis.

You would be reducing carbon emissions and having a positive impact on the environment.

The demand for retrofit skills will grow as they are essential to fulfilling the regional and national commitment to reducing carbon emissions to net-zero.

There are training grants available in the industry which you may be eligible for.

Retrofit careers

Find your plumbing pathway into retrofit

Explore a career pathway in plumbing and heating in domestic retrofit, offering information for new starters as well as experienced professionals looking to train up.

We're working to provide even more career pathway guidance for building, electrical, construction, and design & engineering. Check back soon.

Find plumbing retrofit pathways
Retrofit careers

Salary Indicators

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Heat Pump Engineer
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Solar PV Installer
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Retrofit Coordinator

Skills requested by employers

If you are considering changing careers or starting out on your career journey, there are lots of different retrofit roles you can move into.

Research has identified the core transferable skills most beneficial in the retrofit industry:

  • Adaptability
  • Cross-discipline working
  • Collaboration
  • Critical thinking
  • Communication
  • Problem-solving
  • Systems-thinking
  • Business Management
  • Change Management
  • Leadership
  • Project Management

person holding a solar panel on a roof
Retrofit careers

Finding Support

RetrofitWest is funded by the West of England Combined Authority to support and guide individuals and businesses through the new and evolving opportunities of retrofitting. Their trade members network offers opportunities to access events, join their approved traders list, as well as further opportunities that support the advancement of the retrofit industry in the West of England.

Growth Hub can support you if you own a business and are looking for additional support.

You can also contact our Skills Connect advisors who are happy to talk through the different options available to you.

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