Retrofitting historic buildings can generate £35bn economic output a year

Retrofitting

Historic buildings play a pivotal role in Britain’s cultural heritage and economy.

They can also play a role in the fight against climate change if five core issues are addressed: policy, guidance, cost, supply chain skills and capacity of local government.

Grosvenor, Peabody, Historic England, The National Trust and The Crown Estate have joined forces to highlight the skills and training challenges that will need to be overcome to ensure the UK’s historic buildings contribute to a net zero future.

Together, they have commissioned research and have shared their findings.

Their research identified a need for 205,000 workers to focus solely on retrofitting historic buildings every year from now until 2050 to meet the UK’s net zero targets. This is more than double the number of workers the team estimates currently have the necessary skills.

Whilst the significant challenge of enlisting and training so many people to address the skills shortage is concerning, the group’s research has also highlighted the great opportunities this could bring – generating £35bn of economic output annually, 290,000 jobs, more efficient homes that are less expensive to heat, in the process reducing fuel poverty and future proofing our built heritage.

The report also calls for industry and Government collaboration to build a workforce capable of meeting the UK’s

Of Economic

Against Climate

climate goals and safeguarding the UK’s historic buildings, whilst also creating new construction jobs.

Improving the energy efficiency of historic properties could reduce carbon emissions from the UK’s buildings by an estimated 5% each year, while making homes warmer and cheaper to run, according to the report.

The report revealed that more than 105,000 new workers including 14,300 plumbers, 14,500 electricians, as well as thousands of carpenters and scaffolders, will be needed to work solely on decarbonising the UK’s historic buildings every year for the next 30 years for the UK to meet its 2050 net zero target.

Buildings in the UK are responsible for around a fifth of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, with historic buildings accounting for a significant proportion. Around one in five – 6.2m UK homes – and a third of all commercial buildings – around 600,000 –were built before 1919.

Retrofitting measures, such as ensuring windows and heating systems are more energy efficient, lowers emissions and can also prolong the life of older buildings. Retrofitting also avoids the carbon emissions resulting from demolishing older buildings and building new ones.

However, retrofitting historic buildings requires more specialist skills, for example, plumbers would need to be able to work with heat pumps and hydrogen boilers, which is where the specialist skills training comes in. The industry has suffered from skills shortages due to a combination of factors including an ageing workforce, the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit.

The organisations behind the research are calling on the Government to make the apprenticeship levy more flexible, allowing unspent funds to be channelled into training more people in the heritage retrofit field. About £3.3bn in unused funds from the levy was returned to the Treasury between May 2019 and July 2022.

“Conserving, protecting, and adapting our historic buildings brings multiple benefits to the local communities in which they stand. The revival of Boston Manor House has seen specialist craftspeople employed to sensitively conserve its historic fabric for years to come, providing learning and engagement opportunities for visitors within the historic house. The creation of new facilities such as a visitor café, maker spaces, offices, and meeting rooms for use by the local communities helps to bring the house into the 21st century, ensuring the building has a financially sustainable future, directly feeding back into the local economy.”