An insight into our new Programme Director, Trish Andrews

My journey into sustainable construction began long before I qualified as an architect in 1999. In fact, sustainability has been something of a constant thread throughout my career — from an upcycled community centre student project in the 1980s, through hands-on work at the Centre for Alternative Technology, teaching sustainable architecture, developing retrofit training at the AECB and, more recently, joining The Green Register as Programme Director. Looking back, it is interesting to see how much the language and understanding around sustainability has changed — while many of the challenges remain remarkably familiar.

Discovering a different kind of architecture

During my first architecture degree, my final project was an upcycling community centre created through the retrofit of a disused industrial building. At the time, the term retrofit wasn’t the clearly defined concept it is today. The idea of repurposing an existing building — and particularly reusing construction materials — was considered by some of my tutors to be outside the boundaries of what constituted ‘architecture’. It left me wondering whether architecture was really the profession for me.

That changed during my year out, when I began working at the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) in mid Wales. My project involved designing and building two timber-framed cliff railway stations for CAT’s water-balanced cliff railway. It was an invaluable opportunity to get hands-on with construction and, importantly, to understand materials not simply as things specified on a drawing, but as physical components with environmental impacts, practical limitations and opportunities. That experience reignited my enthusiasm for architecture. More importantly, it convinced me that I wanted sustainability to be at the heart of my professional work.

Learning from pioneers in sustainable architecture

At CAT I had the privilege of working alongside two pioneering sustainable architects, the late David Lea and Patrick Borer. Both had extensive experience in low-energy construction and a fascination with the potential for traditional materials to be reinterpreted in new ways. Working alongside them gave me a front-row view of an approach to architecture that considered not just how buildings looked, but how they worked — environmentally, materially and socially. This included contributing to the development of the Wales Institute for Sustainable Education (WISE), completed in 2010 and subsequently recognised with a RIBA National Award.

WISE remains a particularly inspiring example of what can be achieved when environmental performance and architectural quality are considered together. Its palette of materials includes a timber glulam structure, rammed earth walls, Hempcrete and ash flooring, alongside renewable energy systems including heat pumps, photovoltaic panels, solar water heating, biomass and wind power.

But for me, the building’s most important lessons go beyond its individual technologies. Daylight, views, solar gain, materials, ventilation and the building’s relationship with its surroundings were considered as part of a whole. The dramatic rammed-earth auditorium, for example, demonstrates how a material can provide both architectural character and environmental performance. It reinforced something that has remained central to my approach ever since: Good sustainable design isn’t about adding green technologies to a building. It is about understanding how the building works as a whole.

Bringing sustainability into architectural education

My work at CAT also led to a long association with the Graduate School for the Environment (GSE), where I helped develop the UK’s first full sustainably focused Master’s programme in Sustainable Architecture.

Over approximately 12 years, working intermittently as Programme Leader and Senior Lecturer, I had the opportunity to work with students who were equally passionate about finding better ways to design and construct buildings. We put a strong emphasis on practical learning — including hands-on materials and building workshops — alongside technical analysis. A key requirement was that students’ final design projects incorporated a significant retrofit element and considered, in detail, how the proposed building would perform.

This combination of design, building physics, materials and practical construction became increasingly important to me. And it led to a growing realisation…

Retrofit: an enormous opportunity

Through research, teaching and professional experience, it became increasingly clear to me that improving the performance of our existing buildings is one of the UK’s greatest — and most underestimated — opportunities to address climate change. The scale of the challenge is enormous. But so is the opportunity.

Millions of existing buildings need to perform better, use less energy and provide healthier, more comfortable environments for their occupants. Achieving this successfully requires more than individual technologies or isolated measures. It requires people across the construction industry to understand how buildings actually perform in practice. That means better understanding of building physics, moisture, ventilation, airtightness, thermal bridges, materials and the interactions between different retrofit measures. It also means developing the skills and confidence to challenge ‘business as usual’.

Making retrofit knowledge more accessible

This belief in the importance of accessible, high-quality training led me to become CarbonLite Training Manager at the AECB. There, I helped develop the AECB CarbonLite Training Centre and expand its training offer significantly — growing the portfolio from one course to seven, with a further eight bite-sized courses in development when I left. I also helped secure funding that enabled retrofit and low-energy building training to reach a wider audience through the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF).

The experience reinforced something I had learned throughout my career: Training is one of the most powerful tools we have for changing the construction industry. Standards and policies are important. New technologies are important. But ultimately, buildings are designed, specified, constructed, installed and managed by people. The better equipped those people are, the better our buildings can perform.

A new chapter at The Green Register

In August 2026, I’ve had the privilege of taking on the role of Programme Director at The Green Register. What I’m finding particularly rewarding is the opportunity to bring together so many of the themes that have shaped my career — sustainable design, retrofit, building performance, practical construction and education. Every course and event we deliver is an opportunity to give people the knowledge, skills and confidence to make better decisions. Whether you’re an architect, contractor, building professional, local authority officer, housing professional or someone commissioning work on your own home, understanding the principles behind low-energy construction can help you make more informed choices.

And importantly, our training isn’t about achieving sustainability in theory. It is about finding practical, evidence-based solutions that work in the real world.

Why training matters

The construction industry is changing rapidly. We are being asked to improve energy efficiency, reduce carbon emissions, tackle fuel poverty, improve building quality and respond to an increasingly challenging climate. Yet there remains a significant gap between what we know is possible and what is routinely delivered. Closing that performance gap requires a well-informed and competent workforce. That’s where I believe The Green Register has an important role to play. Our programme of courses, events and learning resources is designed to make best-practice knowledge accessible to the people who can put it into action — from individual practitioners and construction businesses to housing providers, local authorities and wider project teams.

The opportunity to transform the UK’s existing building stock is huge. But to do it well, we need to transform our approach to training alongside it.