The Retrofit Community of Industry recognises the retrofit sector itself as a community and the NRH’s role in activating it to deliver impact in neighbourhoods now. This initiative expands the idea of “community” in retrofit beyond neighbourhood groups to include the industry itself as a collaborative network. It brings together professionals working across design, finance, policy, delivery, supply chain and innovation to support real, community-led retrofit initiatives.
When we talk about community in retrofit, people often think of neighbours coming together to tackle shared challenges. That might mean improving housing quality, tackling fuel poverty, or responding to the climate crisis. Through our work with community innovators in the Retrofit Connect programme, we have developed a broader picture of what the retrofit community is and how we can help bring it together for the benefit of everyone.
Many retrofit professionals work deeply in one area of the sector. The impact of this work is powerful, but it can often feel long-term or indirect. At the same time, many organisations and individuals in the retrofit network want to contribute more practically and directly right now.
The Retrofit Community of Industry creates those pathways, so that expertise can be shared, barriers removed, and collective progress made.
The NRH convenes the Retrofit Community of Industry as a platform to directly support the Retrofit Connect programme and the wider community innovators we work with. It actively connects expertise from across the network with the communities that need it most, so that good work can move faster and reach further.
This takes a number of forms including peer to peer knowledge exchange, panel discussions, roundtable conversations with community innovators and industry specialists, peer learning sessions built around case studies, site visits to active retrofit initiatives, technical workshops, and a feedback loop into policy discussions.
