n By Keith Hatch
Walking around the exhibition you saw many inspiring case studies of projects that have made a huge difference in people’s lives. Whether it was examples of Cambridge City Council social housing, replacing listed windows with more efficient timber glazing in Bournville, community retrofit in Norwich or low energy high rise flats in Thurrock using new mini heat pumps - each pod was a treasure trove of good ideas.
The Retrofit and Jobs section was particularly interesting and explored many of the skills shortages that many workers in construction will be well aware of.
Boards and videos in the pod highlighted the skills and development issues facing the sector and quoted Historic England in saying that “we need 86,000 full-time jobs per year to deliver net zero for England’s historic buildings alone”.
The same pod had the example of Building Our Skills which focused on “Making fenestration a career of choice” and looked at the vital role in fitting energy efficient glazing and doors in retrofitted buildings, while pointing out that “according to the Department of Education’s jobs and skills dashboard, glaziers, window fabricators and fitters has the highest percentage of hard-to-fill vacancies of any STEM occupation, at 86 per cent”.
Across the hall at the Retrofit and Ethics section there were some inspiring examples of practical action to develop skills, including a short film about B4Box in Stockport, a construction training provider that offers disadvantaged people “multi-trade, skills training, such as joinery, plastering, tiling and roofing, with the guarantee of employment to deliver a wide range of high quality, low- carbon, construction services.”
The exhibition organisers also built a ‘house without walls’ demonstration space next to exhibition pods. The installation gave visitors an opportunity to see for themselves new technologies that can improve the energy efficiency of homes and provided a very interesting walk around.
When announcing the exhibition Sara Edmonds, National Retrofit co-director
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Recruiting the workforce to carry out retrofitting – and training these workers to a high standard – is therefore a mission-critical task for reaching net zero by 2050
Charlotte Ravenscroft, Gatsby Foundation report
35 unite buildingWORKER Autumn 2025
highlighted the urgency of the retrofitting agenda, stating, “This exhibition is a call to action – inviting everyone to recognise that the tools and solutions are already available.
“It’s time to start asking what’s stopping us and use this understanding to drive action by taking the necessary steps to transform our buildings, our communities and our environment.”
Moving away from the main hall there were two floors given over to the Building Centres’ Product Galleries, which hosted over 40 companies showing a variety of different products and materials with a focus on energy efficiency and retrofitting, to give an idea of the wide range of different solutions that are currently on the market or being developed.
The exhibition ran throughout the summer and was not only a chance to check out the latest technology and see inspiring examples of projects that are leading the way – but also hosted a full programme of events, featuring panel discussions, workshops, webinars and networking sessions.
Retrofit 25 was more than an exhibition, it was a chance to explore practical ideas and inspire action to turn buildings from being just functional, to becoming part of the solution to the climate crisis and lead the way in a retrofit revolution.
All images: Keith Hatch
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