Twilight Talks

The Green Register's early evening talks supported by Ecomerchant: together promoting ethical, healthy sustainable building materials

On the second Monday of each month The Green Register brings you our Twilight Talks - a relaxed and informal string of events on sustainable building matters to complement our regular training topics.

Each one-hour event is FREE of charge and features short talks from one or more speakers. With Q&A and discussion sessions throughout, everyone is invited to be part of the conversation. We hold Twilight talks at 5-6pm, in the sweet spot between work and dinner – so join us to nourish the mind before replenishing the body!

Retrofit Skills – empowering contractors to deliver the retrofit revolution 

It is widely acknowledged that there is a pressing need to retrofit homes across the UK to improve their energy efficiency if we are to have any hope of achieving the country’s net zero targets. Whilst campaigners such as Insulate Britain have increased visibility of the issue, how such work is delivered remains to be seen.  

Whilst we hope for more funding and direction from central government, some of the challenges are clear – key amongst them the shortage of contractors experienced and knowledgeable in energy saving retrofit works. 

In this Twilight Talk, The Green Register will describe the new qualification they have developed to help address this need; Retrofit Skills, an accredited Level 2 qualification aimed at contractors. 

The training will feature a mixture of online and practical modules, delivering foundational knowledge across the various aspects that need considering in sustainable (domestic) retrofit such that learners can gain confidence in the terminology, opportunities, and interrelationship between trades.  

Learners will emerge with an accredited qualification they can use to demonstrate their knowledge, with more confidence in speaking to clients and design teams about retrofit, and awareness of the trades they need to collaborate with and further training they may need in technical skills.  

Charlotte Surrey and Tom Westwood, Directors of the Green Register, will describe the course, how it has been developed, the market need they see, and talk about the potential to widen course reach and take-up.  

Contractors also need technical, focused qualifications in areas such as heat pump installation and other environmental technologies. Bath College run such courses and are developing others, pitched to appeal to busy contractors by fitting around their work schedules.  

Kelly Vaughan-Watkins who leads on Adult Skills at Bath College will outline the courses they offer and those they are developing to address other training needs, and how contractors are using these to deliver work across the region. 

What training do you think is required to address the retrofit revolution? Will contractor skills unlock retrofit? Do homeowners and clients know how to commission retrofit? Are there enough contractors to handle demand? 

The Twilight Talk will round up with a question and answer session with the speakers.  

About the Speakers

Charlotte Surrey - Director, The Green Register

A steep learning curve as a Commercial Manager in the construction sector, added to many years in marketing led Charlotte to The Green Register in 2019. As Business Director, she seeks industry collaborations to bring sustainability knowledge to the sector.  She is proud to be part of a community of people dedicated to creating a sustainable built environment. Charlotte is also a board member of Retrofit West, a CIC dedicated to providing retrofit services. 

Tom Westwood ARB - Programme Director, The Green Register

Tom is an architect with over 20 years experience designing and delivering both residential and commercial buildings. He is passionate about sustainability with particular expertise in modern timber structures such as Glulam and Cross Laminated Timber, and has advocated widely for their greater adoption.  

Tom has also worked client-side in Bristol City Council’s Housing Delivery Team before joining The Green Register to further his mission to help all those involved in the built environment design and build more sustainably. Tom is also a lecturer in architecture at Bath Spa University.

Kelly Vaughan-Watkins - Head of Department, Adult Skills, Bath College

Kelly is Head of the Adult Skills Department at Bath College. She has worked at Bath College for 5 years, rising through the ranks to her current role from having started as the Employability Officer for the Adult Community Learning department. 

Twilight Talks are supported by Ecomerchant.