About the project
This research was carried out on behalf of the European Social Fund for the European Retrofit Network.
The European Retrofit Network project provides a methodology for retrofitting social housing to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, with an analysis of their vocational education and training (VET) requirements for an European Union-wide retrofitting industry.
The University of Westminster research team consisted of the late Colin Gleeson, Tony Lloyd-Jones, and Junli Yang, who were contracted to provide a methodology for retrofit that would place retrofitting in a European context and to explore the technical issues involved in the retrofit process. The project involved collaboration between ProBE, the Max Lock Centre at the University of Westminster and Groundwork London, with partners including the Polish Environmental Partnership Foundation, the University of Podgorica and 3Si Seville, and London based site-based projects in Queens Park and Newham.
The research focused on retrofit interventions to quantify emissions savings for different housing typologies, entailing emissions reduction modelling and interviews with stakeholders, including social housing providers, architects, project managers and building contractors. The main outcomes concern carbon dioxide savings from individual retrofit interventions, a skills analysis of the labour requirements and the impact on occupants in terms of disruption
Contact
For further information, email Dr Maria Christina Georgiadou at [email protected].
Outputs
- Clarke, L. and Sahin-Dikmen, M. (2021) Why radical transformation is necessary for gender equality and a zero carbon European construction sector, in Gender, intersectionality and Climate Institutions in Industrialized States, Routledge
- Clarke, L., Duran-Palma, F. and Sahin-Dikmen, M. (2021) Towards nearly zero energy building in Europe: challenges of vocational education, in the Encyclopaedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure edited by Filho W.L., Azul A.M., Brandli L.L., Salvia A.L., and Wall, T. Springer
- Clarke, L. and Sahin-Dikmen, M. (2020) Unions and the green transition in construction in Europe: contrasting visions. European Journal of Industrial Relations 26/4
- Clarke, L. and Lipsig- Mummé (2020) Future conditional: from Just Transition to radical transformation?. European Journal of Industrial Relations 26/4
- Clarke, L., Sahin-Dikmen, M. and Winch, C. (2020) Overcoming diverse approaches to vocational education and training to combat climate change? the case of low energy construction in Europe. Oxford Review of Education, 46/5: 619-636
- Clarke, L., Duran Palma, F., Gleeson, C., Sahin-Dikmen, M., Winch, C. and (2019) Inclusive Vocational Education and Training for Low Energy Construction: VET4LEC, 1) Final Report; 2) Country Summaries, European Federation of Building and Woodworkers and European Construction Industry Federation, Brussels
- Clarke, L., Gleeson, C., Winch, C. (2017) What kind of expertise is needed for low energy construction?. Construction Management and Economics, 35/3, pp 78-89.
- Clarke, L., and Wall, C. (2015) Women and Low Energy Construction in Europe, in Women and Environments, No 94/95, Fall 2014/Winter 2015, pp. 26—27
Download the European Retrofit Network: Retrofitting Evaluation Methodology Report (PDF).