2 minute read
Glass News Interview: RetrofitWorks
CLIMATE CHANGE, OUR HOMES, OUR INDUSTRY AND WHERE RETROFITWORKS CAN HELP
Meeting up with Russell Smith on a Zoom meeting has given Glass News’ Editor, Chris Champion, the opportunity to understand more about climate change issues. But why would a Chartered Civil Engineer be involved with a company called RetrofitWorks? Shouldn’t he be building railways or taking on other large engineering projects? Why is he so passionate about the significant changes needed across the UK building industry to realise the ambitions of the climate change-critical need to transform all of the existing homes in the country?
Hear about the company he founded called Parity Projects a company dedicated to transforming the existing housing stock and making greener homes a reality for everyone. Parity advises on and project manages renovations for private homeowners, local authorities and housing associations. It’s an award-winning company and holds details of some 9 million homes in the UK in its cloud-based portal. So how did RetrofitWorks come about and how has it been involved in over £12m of domestic retrofit projects since 2015? Projects are running across the country and are growing so will the Green Homes Grant scheme accelerate this process? It’s worth hearing Russell’s take on this new scheme and his expert views on how the £2b that the government wants spending by the end of March 2021 is a mere drop in the bucket of what is actually needed to meet the carbon reduction targets that have been set. What are the correct products to target to lower the carbon emissions of our homes? The answers may surprise you. And the calculation that says that our industry will need an additional 270,000 people working in it if we are to meet the 2030 targets is interesting – where will they come from and what qualifications will be needed? Russell Smith is a compelling speaker and well qualified to help everyone from homeowners and local authorities, to installers and the government, understand the importance to the world of reducing carbon emissions. I asked Russell what happens if we don’t follow the guidelines he has talked about. His answer? “Our homes are the greatest culprits of carbon emissions. If we do nothing we need to all move north as climate change is a reality.”
