Tens of thousands of workers will be needed in the North East and Yorkshire to decarbonise homes and help the region meet net zero targets - but training them will be a major challenge, a new study suggests.
The Domestic Retrofit Skills Needs Assessment - which was commissioned by the North East LEP and funded by the North East and Yorkshire (NEY) Net Zero Hub - examined the skills that will be needed to decarbonise homes in the North, and the opportunities the programme presents for the area.
The study has identified a number of jobs that will be needed to reduce domestic emissions, and concludes that “there is a need to transition from the current employment of 1,000 full-time equivalent workers to 80,000 if we are to achieve net zero by 2030”.
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But the study warns that “the scale of the challenge is monumental” and new workers will need to come from school leavers, the unemployed, people already in connected sectors and “horizontal entrants” from areas such as the Armed Forces and other sectors that have seen contraction in recent years.
The study highlights areas where colleges and other skills providers will need to train young people and existing workers to meet the net zero challenge. But it warns that much of the training needed “is in urgent need of updating to reflect a transition from a single measure approach to whole house retrofit”.
David Lynch, energy innovation partnership manager at the North East LEP, said: “The UK government has laid out its Net Zero strategy and it’s clear that, if we’re to meet its targets, we need to get more people into the energy sector, working on retrofitting properties with low carbon technologies like heat pumps.
“We want to make sure the North East is ready to capitalise on any opportunities this presents – like a surge in skilled jobs – so with funding and support from the NEY Net Zero Hub, we commissioned this in-depth assessment of the skills which will be needed.”
He added: “As we know, the UK aims to decarbonise homes by 2050. That means we need to decarbonise around 20,000 homes a week – at the moment, that’s the number we’re achieving in a year.
“While this is a huge task, it’s also a huge opportunity. Post-pandemic, we’ve seen some sectors retract, and people have been burnt by experiences of redundancy or insecure employment. Whereas energy is a sector that’s growing and the need for this very large number of skilled workers presents a huge opportunity for people in the North East.”
The North East LEP has created a 10-year action plan to improve skills in the energy sector, including £2.4m to deliver Green Skills Bootcamps across the region.
The study says the transition to more energy efficient homes can reduce fuel poverty and health inequalities but the biggest problem to solve in achieving that is the lack of skilled workers. “Business-As-Usual models will not work,” the study says.
NEY Net Zero hub manager Karen Oliver-Spry said: “Having delivered a £53m programme of housing retrofit across the North East and Yorkshire, the Hub is aware that there are huge opportunities for skilled workers and supply chains to help decarbonise homes in our region. It was important to gain a detailed understanding of this need so that we can support organisations to take the necessary steps to realise the ambitions of the area.
“This study provides valuable insight and will help organisations to make informed decisions about how to allocate resources at a time when every penny counts.”
