A new competency scheme for energy efficiency professionals aims to promote their skills and experience to a fast-growing market in net zero carbon-ready buildings and retrofit.
Elmhurst Energy will announce its new Better Buildings Consultant scheme at its National Conference, in Leicester, on Tuesday 27 February.
The initiative answers a need from building owners, social landlords, facilities managers, and homeowners to make it easier to identify qualified professionals with skills, knowledge and experience in low carbon retrofit and the best route to achieving net zero standards.
It follows a 2021 estimate from CITB that the UK must train 12,000 workers every year until 2025, rising to 30,000 every year until 2030-2035, to achieve its net zero and retrofit targets.
Stuart Fairlie, managing director at Elmhurst Energy, the UK’s largest accreditation scheme for energy assessors, said:
“As a nation, we’ve never been so acutely aware of the need to make our homes and buildings more energy efficient. But to deliver this we need a fully competent and growing workforce who are equipped with the training and accreditation necessary to help us reach net zero standards, reduce demand on the grid and improve the resilience of our built environment.
“We are also still facing an energy price cap that is more than 59 per cent (£700) above the summer 2021 levels. The cost-of-living issue has not gone away, so many councils, housing associations, landlords and homeowners will be looking to future-proof their homes, so they are warmer and cheaper to heat long-term.
“A Better Buildings Consultant simply gives commercial and private customers extra assurance that their chosen energy efficiency professional has a holistic understanding of all these issues and the right competencies and technical experience to cover a broader range of requirements.”
The Better Buildings Consultant badge will increase visibility among industry and homeowners through Elmhurst’s Find an Assessor tool, which attracts more than 7,000 monthly visitors.
The Better Buildings Consultant scheme is open to the 15,000-plus Elmhurst members who have an accreditation in energy assessment and a competency or accreditation in a second professional discipline, such as:
- Retrofit assessment and co-ordination
- Overheating risk assessments
- Psi-value calculation
- U-value calculation
- Legionella risk assessment.
- Airtightness
- Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS)
- Ventilation
- Thermography
To achieve the badge, applicants will also need to pass a further competency test. Once qualified, they will be listed as a Better Buildings Consultant with Elmhurst, and will also receive access to tailored marketing resources.
As the launchpad for the new Better Buildings Consultant scheme, Elmhurst’s national conference will also deliver the latest on the Home Energy Model currently being consulted on by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, plus the Future Homes and Building Standards consultations, and an update on non-domestic policy and regulatory developments.
Registrations are still open to attend the Conference, to be held at King Power Stadium, Filbert Way, Leicester, LE2 7FL.