Fife College
Future-Proofing Skills: Community Retrofit and Heating Innovation in Fife
Winner, Next Generation Learning and Skills
Finalist, International
About
Fife College and The Verdancy Group partnered to deliver a hands-on, community- focused training programme to build capacity in domestic retrofit skills. With support from the Edinburgh & South East Scotland City Region Deal, the initiative offered a two-day “Domestic Retrofit in Practice” course to residents and workers across Fife, addressing fuel poverty and accelerating the net-zero transition. Alongside this, a unique event — What No Gas Boilers? — brought together over 50 gas engineers, apprentices, and industry leaders to explore the future of heat engineering. This dual approach empowered learners with practical skills, supported career transitions, and facilitated conversations about Scotland’s decarbonised future. By blending practical workshops with strategic industry engagement, the programme is redefining community-based sustainability education and preparing the workforce for low-carbon construction careers.
Top 3 learnings
- Engage as many partners as possible. Relationships were formed with apprentices, industry workers, and homeowners.
- Shout about what you do! Regularly renewable energy projects like this happen without people knowing.
- Create training using case studies, as it gives real world understanding trainees can relate to.
What is means to win
Fife College would love to win this Green Gown Award for the Next Generation Learning and Skills category, to celebrate the joint successful partnership working between us and The Verdancy Group. We believe this project provides trainees with the individual power to make a green transitional change to their own homes and enables the future workforce to have the required net zero skills in the renewable sector. We hope that projects like this will continue to grow from the bottom up, involving key stakeholders such as homeowners, apprentices and industry professionals to work together and for educators such as Fife College and The Verdancy Group to facilitate this upskill training, and give back to our local communities.
Sustainable Development Goals
| 2026 | |
| Next Generation Learning and Skills | |
| Winner, UK and Ireland Finalist, International |
