New training academy in Manchester to teach retrofitting

Greater Manchester has taken its first key step towards becoming carbon neutral by 2038 through the launch of a training academy to educate over a thousand of people in retrofitting skills.

European Social Funding of £1.1 million has been awarded to Low Carbon Academy, which is part of North West Skills Academy, by Greater Manchester Combined Authority to train and upskill over a thousand individuals to retrofit buildings across Greater Manchester.

The Retrofit Skills Hub will be delivered by North West Skills Academy along with partners The Retrofit Academy, The Manchester College, Oldham College and Fabric. A total of 1,140 people will be trained to ensure the city-region’s homes and buildings are fit for a low-carbon future.

The training has been designed to help support a sustainable economy as the city-region recovers from the pandemic, while also meeting Greater Manchester’s target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2038, which is 12 years ahead of the national target.

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said: “Training and upskilling construction workers is the first step in moving towards a greener and low carbon city-region, and we are really looking forward to working alongside The Low Carbon Academy and their partners to make this a reality.

“If we want to achieve our goal of a carbon-neutral Greater Manchester by 2038 it is vital we have a workforce that can successfully future-proof our homes and businesses. Our plans to retrofit properties across the city-region on a mass scale will create thousands of new green jobs for residents. What’s more, if we get our response to the climate crisis right, we can take effective action to tackle the jobs crisis and housing crisis at the same time. By prioritising areas where housing quality is lowest, we can make homes cheaper to run and help cut fuel poverty, ultimately improving quality of life for thousands of people in our city-region.”