David founded The Retrofit Academy CIC in 2016, leading the development of the Retrofit Coordinator qualification and the establishment of The Retrofit Academy membership. He is considered one the UK’s leading experts on retrofit education and is a regular conference speaker. David works closely with TrustMark, BEIS and BSI in supporting the transition to delivering whole house retrofit. He serves as a member of various committees and steering groups for BSI, TrustMark, BEIS and the UK-GBC.  

David was previously CEO at CoRE, the national centre of excellence for retrofit (2013-15) and prior to that spent over a decade running sustainable construction exhibitions and conferences. David is also the CEO of Osmosis, a consultancy supporting social landlords to understand retrofit and develop net zero strategies.  He holds an MBA (Distinction) and a master’s degree in modern history.

Jenny has recently joined The Retrofit Academy CIC and leads on operations and programmes.

She has over 15 years’ experience working in management consulting and local government transformation and has managed large teams of designers and project managers. She is an associate chartered management accountant, a PRINCE2 project manager, qualified programme manager and a change management practitioner.

Jenny started her career working for PricewaterhouseCoopers as a management consultant, moving on to Tribal Local Government Consulting in order to focus on public sector work. Prior to joining the Retrofit Academy, she spent over 9 years with Staffordshire County Council as a Senior Project Manager and Portfolio Manager.

In her spare time, she likes running and swimming, drinking good wine and eating dark chocolate!

Peter studied architecture at Cambridge University and holds a doctorate in energy studies from the Open University. He has over thirty-five years of experience as an energy and sustainability consultant working for the building and housing industries. In recent years he has specialised in domestic retrofit, and he played a leading role in the Retrofit for the Future programme as well as helping to develop the acclaimed Retrofit Coordination and Risk Management training for the The Retrofit Academy.

He is a member of the Each Home Counts Implementation Board and chairs the BSI Retrofit Standards Task Group, which is developing a framework of technical standards for domestic retrofit. Peter’s current work involves assisting housing organisations to integrate sustainability and retrofit into their asset management strategies, dealing with condensation damp and mould problems, delivering training and preparing technical guidance about retrofit.

Alan Pither has been professionally involved in energy efficiency assessment and advice since 1985, running a small company based in Shropshire since 2002. Alan Pither Ltd is an ABBE and City & Guilds approved centre for all of the energy assessor qualifications and regularly delivers training courses for BRE and NHER. He also leads the Energy Advice Training Consortium which has developed a range of courses for energy advisors at different levels. In addition to training, Alan offers a range of consultancy services to local authorities, housing associations and individual building owners. These include the development of energy efficiency and climate change strategies as well as building surveys and recommendations for energy efficiency improvement measures. The latter covers all types of buildings with the majority being large domestic properties that are being refurbished and/or extended, usually off the mains gas grid, so advice on alternative heating options is also needed.

Steve recently joined The Retrofit Academy as Head of Qualifications and Learning. His first job was to develop our new NVQ Level 2 Qualification in ‘Understanding Domestic Retrofit’ with the accredited awarding body NOCN.  

Steve has a number of construction related qualifications, is a qualified assessor and has an M.A. in Human Resource Management.  He has worked in a number of roles over his career, starting with ‘hands on’ building, before moving into education and training, working as a college lecturer followed by a period with the Construction Industry Training Board.

Over the years, Steve has been actively involved in the development of national occupational standards, apprenticeship standards, vocational qualifications, assessment strategies and a range of learning initiatives in support of these. He is extremely keen to support the Retrofit Academy in its aim to equip people with the knowledge and skills to deliver retrofit excellence.

Sally has over 30 years of experience in housing, where she has worked in communities in London and the North East.  She created and led Gentoo Green from 2007 – 2016, delivering a PV programme to 6,000 homes.  She also set up an energy advice service, a curriculum aligned school programme as well as pioneering many retrofit projects including Retrofit Reality, PaYS and Energy Saving Bundles. 

Sally’s leadership was the catalyst for the groundbreaking Boiler on Prescription project.  She designed and oversaw the delivery of PlanetSmart, a carbon reduction programme that achieved an 18% reduction in carbon and saved c£500k.  In 2012, Sally was awarded an MBE for services to reducing fuel poverty.

Following a trade visit to Africa, she set up a charity to provide solar lamps on a pay-as-you-save basis for off-grid communities.  Sally is driven by social justice.  Her true passion is driving engagement with people to change behaviour and improve lives.

Andy joined The Retrofit Academy CIC in March 2021, leading on memberships, marketing and events.

He has more than 17 years of experience working in the social housing sector, covering projects and roles in customer service, marketing, transformation, training and HR. Andy comes from a background in Art & Design, and has a BA (Hons) in Design Studies from the University of Wolverhampton.

Andy enjoys spending time with his friends and family, watching football (a keen Wolverhampton Wanderers fan), going to music concerts and drinking craft beer. He likes to keep himself fit through weight training and long walks.

Callum has 10 years of experience working in the construction industry, starting out as a plasterer and tiler, and then working for a small new build company as Assistant Site Manager. He also has over 10 years of experience in the construction training sector working in various roles in prisons, further education, adult training and charities.

Callum enjoys spending time with family and friends, visiting new places, going on holiday, watching sport (mainly rugby – go Wasps!) and going to the gym.

Charlotte graduated with a 2:1 In Finance and Marketing at Keele University and has worked within the marketing industry for five years. With experience in both international and national organisations such as MIQ Shanghai, she has an analytical mind and a creative spark. Her passion is improving the customer experience and creating slick operational processes (although her true loves are wine gums and loose leaf tea).

Charlotte has gone from strength to strength while with The Academy.  She’s improved many of our ‘behind the scenes’ processes, and even recently implemented our new CRM system almost single-handedly! 

Grant graduated from The University of Wolverhampton with a 2:1 In Business Management (Finance) and joined The Retrofit Academy CIC in April 2021 as Customer Support Assistant.

Grant is new to the industry with his only other previous role being a finance assistant. He enjoys spending time with his friends and family, listening to music, and watching his beloved football team West Bromwich Albion. He likes to keep fit through various sports, these most recently being football and a few rounds of golf.

Adrianna graduated from University of Derby with a BA(Hons) in Theatre Arts. Her studies helped her develop confidence and quick thinking, both of which she finds useful in her work.

Adrianna enjoys the great outdoors, always on the lookout for new hiking trails and beauty spots.  You will often find her in the theatres, both as a spectator and a performer.  At home, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, cooking healthy meals and playing board games.

Ellie Graduated from the University of the West of England with a BA in Creative Writing and Theatre Studies.

Outside of work she enjoys reading, writing, and playing board games with friends. In her free time, she is also studying German and has found a new love for Gardening.

Dr Zachary Gill (EngD, CEng, CMVP, Level 5 Diploma in Retrofit Coordination) is a building performance expert, working and challenging the field of low-energy domestic buildings for over 12 years. He undertook his academically commended PhD research on the contribution of user behaviours to building performance with Buro Happold Engineers. Subsequently, he worked with Willmott Dixon Energy Services, pioneering performance-feedback approaches, in particular on their wide-scale social housing retrofit schemes.

In 2019, Zack established his building performance consultancy, SOAP Retrofit Ltd, to continue championing real-world measurement techniques and developing science-based retrofit approaches

Two core mantras drive Zack and SOAP’s work:

1. “You can’t manage what you can’t measure.”

2. “In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they aren’t.”

Andrew Myer is a semi-retired freelance energy/environmental consultant and domestic energy advisor. He initially trained and practised as an architect, specialising from 1980 in energy issues related to buildings – including passive solar design, and energy efficiency, management and policy. From 1990 this broadened to embrace the wider environmental impacts of building design, construction and use, and the management systems and training necessary for systematic implementation of improved technologies and approaches. Andrew has worked for individual and corporate clients, in government, community and private sectors. From 1992-99 he was involved with ‘Greening the Games’ for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and for 2007-2013 was an honorary Commissioner on the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012. He has been a self-employed Domestic Energy Assessor since 2007, a Green Deal Advisor since 2013, a Retrofit Co-ordinator since 2015, and is now a Retrofit Assessor too.

David is a construction and real estate professional with over 40-years of experience now working in the private sector after a long spell performing in Local Government and for a large Registered Social Landlord (RSL).

He currently fulfills a number of roles, including Operations Director for 2035 Assessments Limited, the Managing Director of a Chartered Surveying and Architectural Services practice in Suffolk, an acting Trustee Board Member for a local housing Charity and an Assessor/Mentor for the Retrofit Academy. He is also an acting committee member of the CIOB Ipswich Hub and past regional chairman/committee member for CABE. David has a passion for tackling climate change by working with approved energy efficiency installers, LA’s and RSL’s to reduce CO2 emissions to their housing stocks.