RACHAEL OWENS and Sara Edmonds are appointed as co-directors of the National Retrofit Hub, taking over in mid-July 2023 from Russell Smith, the interim director.

Rachael and Sara join at a crucial point in the Hub’s progress towards delivering housing retrofit at scale in the UK.

Working closely with the Hub’s chair, Lynne Sullivan OBE, and the board, Rachael and Sara will manage the operational plan required to deliver the Hub’s strategy. They will collaborate to bring together the industry to make meaningful change, creating cross-sector engagement through the Hub’s advisory panel, not-for-profit partners, commercial sponsors and industry stakeholders.

National Retrofit Hub

Rachael and Sara have a wealth of retrofit experience. Both are experienced architects who have actively collaborated to improve climate literacy and collective action in the drive to decarbonise the built environment.

Rachael and Sara said: “We are delighted to be appointed co-directors of the National Retrofit Hub. National scale retrofit is the biggest lever we can pull to create positive systemic change within our industry and beyond.

“We cannot wait to speak more with the people embedding retrofit within their activities and hope to facilitate clearer routes for the work that needs doing. The Hub has the potential to build trust across the industry and beyond, creating a shared, co-written consensus of how to tackle retrofit at every scale and level.”

Rachael and Sara take on the role of co-directors in a job-sharing capacity, enabling them to continue with important work they are already doing in the retrofit sector whilst also bringing a fantastic set of skills and knowledge to the Hub.

Rachael maintains her role as Head of Sustainability at Buckley Gray Yeoman and Sara maintains her role as Head of Citizen Engagement at Built Environment – Smarter Transformation (both on a part-time basis).

Russell Smith will step down as interim director but continues on the board supporting the Hub’s activity and progress.

The National Retrofit Hub is a non-profit programme, hosted by the Sustainable Development Foundation, working collaboratively across the retrofit sector. It launched in March, 2023, to enable the local delivery of UK housing retrofit at scale.

>> Read more about the National Retrofit Hub in the news

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