A national centre for the advancement of sustainable refurbishment is set to open in the West Midlands in September. The Centre of Refurbishment Excellence (CoRE) is a partner project led by the Building Research Establishment (BRE). It is part of ‘Rethinking Housing Refurbishment’ (RHR), a major industry-led programme that aims to raise standards of practice in home and non-domestic refurbishments with the aim of reducing carbon emissions in Britain’s existing building stock.
The aim of CoRE is to provide a ‘live demonstration’ of retrofitting. The centre will be located in a disused pottery factory in the West Midlands town of Stoke-on-Trent. As well as housing building technology R&D facilities, the centre will profile and showcase sustainable refurbishment products, support businesses to secure new opportunities from retrofitting and deliver refurbishment skills and training solutions.
“We have a lack of skilled workers in the retrofit industry,” said Gavin Summerson, a BRE retrofit project manager. “The Centre for Refurbishment Excellence will specifically relate to retrofitting and refurbishment and address any skills shortages in these areas.”
As much as 20 per cent of Britain’s housing stock is more than 100 years old and more than 80 per cent of today’s homes will still be standing in 40 years time, which BRE says makes the scale of the refurbishment opportunity in the UK “significant”.
Source: Green Business News