The Retrofit Academy brings fully-funded Courses to the West Midlands to help build skilled Retrofitting Workforce

The Retrofit Academy (TRA) is working with Open College Network West Midlands and West Midlands Combined Authority to provide Government fully-funded Level 4 and 5 retrofitting courses, saving learners up to £3,000 in course fees. These qualifications are essential for providers to take on public sector contracts for retrofit work, and advance an essential industry to ensure warm, healthy, sustainable homes across the UK.

The online courses support the UK Government’s PAS 2035 certification Initiative, their 2050 net-zero target, and include Domestic Retrofit Assessment and Application, Coordination and Risk Management qualifications. Fully funded places are available via https://retrofitacademy.org/wm

“It's crucial that we have the volume of skilled, competent trades and professionals needed to deliver the decarbonisation of our housing stock. Recent studies have estimated that up to 400,000 new recruits will be needed to form a Retrofit Army. At TRA, we want to ensure these people really understand retrofit to deliver high quality projects,” commented David Pierpoint, CEO of TRA. “We’re delighted to help support the built environment community by creating and inspiring a new workforce to undertake one of the greatest infrastructure challenges in history. Having these courses fully funded will make this more accessible to individuals and SMEs and will help us to reach our goal.”

The courses are ideal for Domestic Energy Assessors (DEA), architects, surveyors, social housing providers and SME’s working in the domestic built environment looking to deliver high quality retrofit projects. The training can open many doors to the individual learner, as well as helping organisations to comply with the requirements of BSI PAS 2035 regulations. PAS 2035 states you must have a Retrofit Coordinator overseeing each retrofit project, that you must hold the Level 5 Diploma in Retrofit Coordination and Risk Management to be recognised as a Coordinator and be registered with an accreditation scheme and TrustMark.

Fully-funded opportunities promote career progression
Jim Cottom, Renewables Delivery Manager for British Gas, recently took the fully funding course in the West Midlands and qualified from the Level 5 Diploma in Retrofit Coordination and Risk Management to become a Retrofit Coordinator. Jim commented, “Right from the submission process, through to the end assessment, I found the course easy to follow and digest, with plenty of useful content throughout and easy to manage at my own pace alongside my other commitments. I found the assessor was always on hand to support and steer me in the right direction, as well as having a useful chat function with my peer group, that were also going through the training at the same time as me. I completed the course within the 12 weeks and found that I needed to allow approx. 6-10 hours per week to complete the training and assessment submissions to stay on track. The qualification is already helping with my career progression within my current organisation, as I am now able to apply for a more national role around renewables”.

Funding Information
Fully funded training is available until March 2023, with all learning and assessments to be completed within this timeframe. Learners have 12 weeks to complete the course, with one assignment submission due each week to stay on track.
To qualify for the funding, you must live, work, or have a registered business within the West Midlands. The funding is available for Level 4 and Level 5 qualifications:
•    Level 4: Award in Domestic Retrofit Assessment
•    Level 5: Diploma in Retrofit Coordination and Risk Management

Once approval for the course is received (usually within 2-3 days of submission), you are given instant access to a dedicated E-Learning platform where learners can learn at their own pace, and easily balance their learning around other commitments. The individual just has to ensure they meet the required number of learning hours per week (eg. 8 hours for the Level 4 and 5 courses).

To find out more visit https://retrofitacademy.org/wm

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