Nottingham Trent University

Retrofitting, future-facing: Enabling the Net-Zero agenda

In November 2023, Nottingham Trent University (NTU) launched the Centre for Sustainable Construction and Retrofit (CSCR), with the aim of embracing a uniquely holistic and research-informed approach to levelling up, widening participation, and tackling the low-carbon and green skills gaps.

The CSCR will consolidate and further enhance NTU’s pioneering reputation in sustainability studies; we are examining how the built environment sector can achieve a low-carbon future, and how we can help communities and businesses embrace change.

We are addressing these key issues through a dynamic, multilayered approach. Recently, we have launched Level 4 courses in Mansfield, enabling a passionate new demographic of students to access pathways into sustainability careers. We are providing short courses through our Green Skills Bootcamps and helping unemployed people to access retrofit qualifications. We are offering guidance on key sustainability issues to local SMEs, through dedicated consultancy support and the East Midlands Sustainability Partnership; and we are teaching life-cycle assessment skills to NTU students, in collaboration with Innovate UK.

Top 3 Learnings

1. Ask and you shall receive… sometimes! If you do not bid for the money, you will not get it.
2. Follow your passions — people value ideas with emotion and purpose.
3. Appointing the right people is critical.